Resistance to Vaccine Mandates Grows Among Police Forces Across USA: 'This is About Saving Jobs'

As the number of COVID cases drops and more treatments become available, resistance towards President Biden's vaccine mandate remains strong among government and private employees. Local police forces are seeing some substantial resistance.

Half of Chicago Police Unvaccinated

A court battle is currently underway between the city of Chicago, Illinois, and its police department since nearly half of its officers are still unvaccinated. 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said on Thursday those who don't get the shot will be placed on unpaid leave. The local police union is moving to dismiss the action.

John Catanzara, president of the FOP local in Chicago, said forcing people to get vaccinated is "absolutely wrong."

"They were willing to go into a no-pay status at midnight tonight and get sent home," Catanzara asserted. "You know, the reality is we have a profession nobody else wants to do right now. They cannot get anybody to go into this police academy."

Seattle Police Dept. Could Lose Hundreds

Officers with the Seattle Police Department faced a deadline Monday to show that they've been vaccinated. Hundreds could leave their jobs because they've decided not to get the shot.

Seattle's police union, which represents nearly 1,000 police personnel, believes the mandate would further aggravate its current issue with staffing shortages, thereby putting the public's safety at risk.

"People believe in personal choice, and we as a union have to represent everybody," said union president Mike Solan. "We're not going to play the games of segregating between the vaxxed and the unvaxxed, It's not about that. This is about saving jobs."

LA Sheriff Won't Force the Vaccine

Meanwhile, in California, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said he won't require his 18,000 employees to get vaccinated despite the mandate. 

"I don't want to be in a position to lose 5, 10 percent of my workforce overnight," the sheriff said last week.

And hundreds of police officers in San Diego said they would rather quit their jobs than agree to a vaccine mandate.

Private Industry Too

In Washington state, nearly 200 employees of Boeing protested the company's vaccine mandate, which goes into effect on Dec. 8.

During a protest on Friday, workers held up signs that said, "Coercion is not consent" and "Stop the mandate."

"It's my choice and it's my body," said one avionics engineer. "It's an experimental drug given under a pseudo-emergency."

An assembly mechanic commented, "This is America. We don't just do what we're told because one person says to."

The president's mandate has already been challenged by several Republican governors with some saying they will take the Biden administration to court. 

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