SAN JOSE — With COVID-19 vaccination rates going from sluggish to improving among San Jose police officers — as some skepticism lingers about vaccine integrity — their union has outlined a plan to respond to the city’s new vaccine and testing mandate to head off potential staffing reductions resulting from noncompliance.
The San Jose Police Officers’ Association has proposed a plan to reconcile the police department’s approximately 1,150 sworn officers with a city mandate for vaccination or weekly testing for city employees. Most of the proposal outlines accommodation related to vaccination and testing, including provisions for medical or religious exemptions.
But the strong subtext of the proposal is that the union doesn’t want to see officers resigning, being put on unpaid leave, or getting terminated because of vaccine hesitance.
Language in the proposal specifically cites how similar requirements are already in place for the federal and state government, and references this week’s full FDA approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as an incentive for officers to get inoculated, especially with the highly infectious delta variant of the virus spreading throughout the country.
“The POA continues to encourage its members to voluntarily get vaccinated,” the proposal states.
Officers’ adherence to that urging has improved after initially being underwhelming, with city and police estimates of vaccination compliance hovering around 74% among sworn staff, according to a law-enforcement source. That represents a jump from the approximate 50% to 55% vaccination rate reported earlier in the summer.
It’s still below the estimated fully vaccinated rate for the overall Santa Clara County population, which is above 80%.
According to sources connected to SJPD, some of the opposition is rooted in assertions of personal liberties, but some officers are openly subscribing to conspiracy theories and debunked misinformation about the vaccines, including the idea that the shots are purported vehicles for government-tracking microchips.
The risk for officers and who they contact is especially pronounced given the public-facing nature of their jobs.
“The overwhelming message from our employee leaders is to require vaccination to protect the health of all of our city employees,” Mayor Sam Liccardo said earlier this month regarding the employee mandate. “And we also have an obligation to our larger community and as long as city employees will be interacting with our community, we must ensure they can do so safely.”
For instance, as recently as Tuesday, San Jose police officers were tasked with clearing out the city council chambers of unmasked people protesting the mayor and council’s plan to require proof vaccination for entry to large city-owned event venues including the SAP Center and several theaters, museums and the main convention center downtown.
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