At least 10,300 city workers thumbed their noses at Mayor Bill de Blasio\u2019s COVID-19 vaccine mandate deadline Monday \u2014 refusing to get a \u2026<\/b>
\nAt least 10,300 city workers thumbed their noses at Mayor Bill de Blasio\u2019s COVID-19 vaccine mandate deadline Monday \u2014 refusing to get a jab even as Hizzoner says the requirement is crucial to keeping residents safe. The balking workers include at least 1,300 FDNY staffers \u2014 leaving 18 fire and ladder companies \u201ctemporarily out of service\u201d and dozens more undermanned \u2014 even as Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro insisted the department was functioning \u201cquite well.\u201d About 3,500 city workers rushed to get vaccinated over the weekend ahead of Monday\u2019s deadline, according to de Blasio. After 5 p.m. Friday,3,564 city workers received at least one dose of the vaccine \u2014 making them part of the surge of 22,472 municipal employees who\u2019ve received a shot since the requirement was announced Oct.20, the mayor said Monday. The most recently released city data shows that 91 percent of city workers have gotten at least one jab. That leaves about 22,800 unvaccinated city workers. About 10,300, or roughly 45 percent, of that group are on leave without pay, while 12,000, or a little over half, have applied for an exemption based on medical or religious reasons and are still allowed to work while waiting for a decision on their cases. The 10,300 on leave without pay are nearly 3 percent of the Big Apple\u2019s 378,000-member workforce. \u201c We said we would climb the ladder of vaccination mandates,\u201d de Blasio said from City Hall during a virtual press briefing. \u201cTime and time again, we\u2019ve put the mandates in place, and they\u2019ve worked.\u201d \u201cThis mandate was the right thing to do, and the proof is in the pudding.\u201d Eighty-four percent of the NYPD,77 percent of city firefighters,88 percent of medics and 83 percent of sanitation workers have gotten at least one dose, the mayor noted. \u201cCity workers are doing the right thing,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to thank everyone who got vaccinated.\u201d Despite a firefighter union head warning early Monday of potentially dozens of shuttered fire companies and slower response times, de Blasio claimed hours later, \u201cFirehouses are open, no firehouses close, [and] response times [are] normal.\u201d Out of 350 FDNY units,18 are \u201cout of service\u201d at the moment, although zero firehouses are \u201cclosed,\u201d according to the department head. \u201cThe department is functioning quite well,\u201d Nigro said during the press conference. He conceded that there are \u201cunderstaffed\u201d teams, ascribing blame to \u201chundreds\u201d of smoke eaters staying home, falsely claiming they are sick. \u201cThere are understaffed units,\u201d said Nigro. \u201cThat understaffing could end immediately if members stopped going sick when they weren\u2019t sick.\u201d He declared that short staffing would end \u201conce the members come to their senses and stop using medical leave improperly.\u201d Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy<\/p>\n