Stakes raised as deadlines pass in many US cities amid legal threats

Police unions are on a collision course with the authorities in many US cities over their opposition to mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for officers.

Deadlines for officers to get jabs have passed in a number of big cities over the past week, raising the stakes in a standoff that mirrors efforts by workers in other sectors to resist the mandates. The police unions have warned that coercion on vaccinations could result in mass resignations by officers and lawsuits.

More and more cities have been adopting vaccine mandates to counter a pandemic that, by Sunday, had killed more than 724,100 people in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University.

According to data released by some cities, the vaccination rates among police department employees have been lower than those for other government workers and the population at large.

Friday was the deadline for Chicago's city employees, including police officers, to be jabbed. Those who failed to get vaccinated must submit to biweekly testing at their own expense or face being placed on nonpaid status.

The president of the city's police union, John Catanzara, told reporters: "We're in America. We don't want to be forced to do anything. Period."

On Friday Chicago filed a lawsuit against the union and Catanzara for "engaging in, supporting, and encouraging a work stoppage or strike". In a court hearing that day, Catanzara was temporarily barred from making public statements on the issue.

San Francisco city's vaccine mandate went into effect on Wednesday; about 120 police officers had not had the shot by the deadline. Those officers are being pulled off the force, according to the San Francisco Police Officers' Association.

The mayor of New York, which has the country's largest police department with about 36,000 officers, said he is looking at a potential vaccine mandate for officers. The department's Police Benevolent Association has vowed to take legal action against any mandate.

The police department said 68 percent of officers have been vaccinated, compared with 76 percent of all adults in the city.

Proponents of vaccine mandates are concerned that unvaccinated police officers are at higher risk of becoming infected than other workers, given their interactions with people.

COVID-19 has been the No 1 killer of law enforcement officers in 2020 and 2021; more than 470 officers have died from the disease since the start of the pandemic, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page, a nonprofit group that tracks line-of-duty deaths.

Police union officials have cited distrust in how vaccines were developed as reasons for resisting vaccine mandates.

Unions and police department leaders have frequently failed to reach agreement on vaccine mandates for officers, Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, which advises departments, told The New York Times. "If this was cops getting shot on the streets of America today at this number, there would be outrage," said Wexler, referring to the COVID-19 death toll among police officers.

Key plank

Vaccination of workers has been a key plank in the US' broader recovery plans.

On Friday the administration of US President Joe Biden announced it would end COVID-19 travel curbs for fully vaccinated international visitors from Nov 8.

Late on Friday the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that it will accept mixed-dose coronavirus vaccines from international travelers.

The CDC said recently that it would accept any vaccine authorized for use by US regulators or the WHO.

A day earlier a panel of expert advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration recommended booster shots of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for citizens aged 65 and older and those at high risk of severe illness.

US health officials are also setting the stage for a national vaccination campaign for younger children.

Agencies contributed to this story.