COVID: Roughly 10% Of Bay Area Police, Hospital, School Employees Say 'No' To Vaccines
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) -- He might be the most famous vaccine hold out in the Bay Area, but Golden State Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins is not alone in his decision to skip the shot.
Local police departments, hospitals and school districts are all dealing with employees who are saying no to vaccine mandates for their jobs. With vaccine mandate deadlines fast approaching, the number of holdouts seems to stand, across the board, at 10 percent.
In San Francisco, that comes out to around 3500 unvaccinated city employees.
"Our expectation in asking people to get vaccinated has everything to do with trying to keep other city employees safe and keep others safe," says San Francisco Mayor London Breed.
At the San Jose Police Department, among all employees, the number is also 10 percent.
At the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, 54 percent of all employees are vaccinated, with the potential of losing 100 out of 1000 sworn deputies from the force.
There are 29 federal and at least five state lawsuits about pending mandates. One mandate, regarding staff and guards at all 36 California prisons was upheld by a federal judge on Tuesday.
"Part of the issue is that if you are in public service, part of your job is to follow requirements that are intended to protect others. Vaccine requirements are in that category," said UC Hastings professor Dorit Reiss.
She says the tension and potential consequences over vaccine mandates won't end until this happens.
"When we have high enough vaccination rates to stop the pandemic generally."
