U.S. police are getting vaccinated at lower rates than the people they are tasked to protect
The New York Police Department (NYPD) mission is, in part, to “protect the people” and “reduce fear.” That makes it somewhat ironic that the force is struggling to get its members vaccinated.
My colleague Josiah Bates reports that as of Aug. 24, only 47% of the NYPD’s members were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 via department-administered programs. That doesn’t account for those who might have been vaccinated outside work—the NYPD isn’t mandating that its employees share their status—but the figure is still likely quite low, especially in comparison to wider vaccination rates across the state. About 77% of all adults in New York City have gotten at least one shot as of today, and 69.9% are fully inoculated.
So why are members of the force so resistant to getting vaccinated? “I just don’t feel like I need it yet. I spend most of my time outside and I wear a mask,” a Brooklyn-based traffic enforcement agent told Josiah. “For me, it’s about having the choice to take it—and I just don’t want to take it yet.” A New York City-based 9-1-1 operator expressed similar sentiments: “[I think] people don’t want to feel obliged or forced to get the vaccine. It’s not like I’m constantly in someone else’s personal space. I social distance and wear a mask. Why do I need to get vaccinated right now?”
Josiah, reflecting on the reporting experience, says he hadn’t expected those responses. “I was surprised to hear some of the explanations from NYPD members who didn’t want to get vaccinated,” he tells me. “It wasn’t really about health and safety—it was about wanting to make that decision themselves and not be forced to get vaccinated. I think that hints at a larger discussion around employers mandating vaccines.”
The NYPD’s problem vaccinating its force reflects national trends. For example, as Josiah reports, the Los Angeles Police Department had a vaccination rate around 47% as of Aug. 16; less than 30% of deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department had gotten the shot by that date.
Police unionsnationwide, including the NYPD’s, have railed against vaccine mandates. (A spokesperson for the New York City Patrol Benevolent Association—the city’s police union—told TIME it would take “legal action” if its members were subjected to mandates.) But based on Josiah’s conversation with the 9-1-1 operator, there’s reason to believe at least some members of the force would get inoculated if the alternative was losing their job. “I would try to fight it but, eventually, I would get it,” the operator said.
About 443.37 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been shipped to various U.S. states as of this afternoon, of which some 371.3 million doses have been administered thus far, according to TIME's vaccine tracker. About 52.6% of Americans have been completely vaccinated.
More than 217.6 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 1 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 4.5 million people have died. On August 31, there were 546,428 new cases and 8,495 new deaths confirmed globally.
Here's how the world as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
And here's every country that has reported over 4 million cases:
The U.S. had recorded more than 39.1 million coronavirus cases as of 1 a.m. E.T. today. More than 640,000 people have died. On August 31, there were 140,704 new cases and 1,397 new deaths confirmed in the U.S.
Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of Sept. 1, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
A letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine today describes waning vaccine protection among health care workers at the University of California San Diego Health. By July, 83% of the health system’s staff had been fully vaccinated. Nevertheless, after the end of California’s mask mandate on June 15, daily case numbers among the study participants increased rapidly. In July, vaccine effectiveness dropped to 65.5%, down from 94.3% in June and 95.9% in May. That’s “likely due to both the emergence of the delta variant and waning immunity over time,” according to the authors.
In Israel, being officially “fully vaccinated” now means having gotten a booster shot. “We are updating what it means to be vaccinated,” the country’s coronavirus czar, Salman Zarka, said during a briefing on Sunday. Those who don’t get a third shot will face limitations on recreation activities. According to data released by the Israeli health ministry on Sunday, within 12 days of getting a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, recipients were 10 times less likely to become severely ill and 11 times less likely to test positive for the coronavirus. That was compared to those who had gotten a second shot five months earlier, the Wall Street Journal reports.
A large new study published today suggests that COVID-19 survivors have a higher risk for lingering kidney problems than the general population. Between one and six months after infection, they were about 35% more likely to have kidney damage or declines in kidney function than those who did not have the coronavirus, according to findings in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. While much attention post-infection has centered on lung health, the results of this study emphasize the need to monitor those who had the virus for kidney disease, the authors say.
Many students in India are returning to the classroom today for the first time in nearly 18 months. In New Delhi, for example, students in grades nine through 12 have the option to participate in in-person learning; staff are required to be vaccinated, and classes will be capped at 50% with desks that are spaced apart from each other. The return to school comes as cases trend upwards in India: The country is currently reporting a 7-day average of nearly 43,000 cases daily, the highest in nearly two months. That’s causing alarm among some parents. As one mother said to the Associated Press: “We don’t go to malls. We don’t go shopping. So why schools now?”
Breakthrough COVID-19 cases among those who have been vaccinated typically don’t result in hospitalization—but they don’t exactly feel mild to those who get sick. The Washington Post talked to seven people about what it’s like to experience a breakthrough case. “It was definitely scary feeling as sick as I did, but throughout it, I kept thinking if I hadn’t been vaccinated, this would be so much worse,” Matt Longman, 41, said.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com. If you have specific questions you'd like us to answer, please send them to covidquestions@time.com.
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Today's newsletter was written by Angela Haupt and edited by Elijah Wolfson.
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