Metro

Less than half of staff vaccinated at key NYC public agencies: data

By
Nolan Hicks and
Julia Marsh
Published July 27, 2021
Updated July 27, 2021, 6:02 p.m. ET

Fewer than half of all employees at key city public safety agencies and other departments that interact regularly with the public have gotten at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccination — a pace that lags far behind the Big Apple’s overall average, figures obtained by The Post show.

The Corrections, Police, Sanitation, Parks and Homeless Services departments as well as the Housing Authority all h🔯ave vaccination rates below 50 percent, the 🍸data shows.

The Fir🔯e Department has barely passed the halfway point with only 54 percent of its staff vaccinated.

Meanwhile, just 59 percent of the public school system’s staff have been vaccinated so far — a tally that includes principals, teachers and support staff like janitors and secretaries.

Overall, 70.7 percent of adult New Yorkers in the five boroughs have gotten at least one shot — a rate matched or excee🌄ded by just nine of the 36 municipal agencies that City Hall has collected 🌃stats on.

The City Planning Department is the most vaccinated in the city with 84 percent of its staff having received at 🏅least one shot.

The vaccination data was dated July 22, which is the day that Mayor Bill de Blasio first imposed the vaccination or weekly test mandate on employees of the Big Apple’s public hospital system and the Health Department’s community health clinics.

A health care worker fills a syringe with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, Thursday, July 22, 2021, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The museum moved their vaccination site from the Hall of Ocean Life where the famous 94-foot-long model of a blue whale is hanging from the ceiling to a smaller adjacent gallery. New York City is closing the big vaccination sites to focus on areas with low vaccination rates.
Fewer than half of all employees at key city public safety agencies that interact regularly with the public have gotten at least one COVID-19 shot. Mary Altaffer/AP

He subsequently expanded the rule on Monday to cover all ♏city employees and imposed an additional restriction on unvaccinated city s🐽taff, requiring them to wear masks while in the office.

Officials cautioned the data provided to The Post only tallies city emp🐓loyees who received their vaccinations in New York City, meaning that it may undercount vaccinations at agencies where a large percentage of the workforce lives in the suburbs.

“It’s got to happen, the numbers show tremendous hesitancy and resistance and they’re putting New Yorkers at risk,” said Dr. Art Caplan, the head of the division of medical ethics at the New York University-Grossman School of Medicine. “Particularly when you have first responders and people interacting with the public.”

“We have to act,” he added. “The decision to go forward with mandates… it makes ethical sense and public health sense.”

In a statement, City Hall said the data underscored the need for de Blasio’s mandate — and again encouraged private employers to impose their own requirements to encourage vaccination.

“If you want to bring this city back and build a recovery for all of us, get vaccinated today,” said spokesman Mitch Schwartz.

“Our vaccine/test mandate will go a long way toward keeping the entire city workforce safe, and other public workforces across the country are already following suit,” he added. “Every private employer should, too. It’s our fastest route out of this crisis.”

Most vaccinated departments:

  • Department of City Planning: 84 percent
  • Mayor’s Office: 83 percent
  • Mayor’s Office of Contract Services: 81 percent
  • Office of Management and Budget: 79 percent
  • Small Business Services: 73 percent

Least vaccinated departments:

  • Department of Correction: 33 percent
  • Housing Authority: 38 percent
  • Department of Sanitation: 40 percent
  • Department of Homeless Services, Police Department, Emergency Medical Services: 47 percent