Thousands Of NYC Workers Remain Unvaccinated As Mandate Begins

NEW YORK CITY — Thousands of New York City municipal workers awoke Monday without an upcoming paycheck.

Roughly 23,000 municipal workers remained unvaccinated against the coronavirus late Sunday, according to mayor's office data.

The entire city workforce is now 91 percent vaccinated — a sign that Mayor Bill de Blasio's vaccine-or-no pay mandate worked overall. De Blasio tweeted that half the remaining vaccinated workers requested exemptions that are under review.

"A vast majority of City workers, 91%, stepped up to put the health and safety of their city first and got vaccinated," he tweeted.

But broad swaths of important public safety workers — NYPD and FDNY firefighters in particular — remain unvaccinated.

The NYPD is 84 percent vaccinated and FDNY firefighters are 75 percent, according to mayor's office data.

The situation with firefighters caused a number of fire houses to effectively shut down, ABC7 reported. Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro lambasted employees who falsely called in sick.

"Irresponsible bogus sick leave by some of our members is creating a danger for New Yorkers and their fellow firefighters," he said in a statement, first reported by ABC7. "They need to return to work or risk the consequences of their actions."