周四，纽约市消防队员和其他城市工作人员在市长官邸外抗议新冠肺炎疫苗接种截止日期迅速接近。

几乎所有的市政雇员，包括警察、环卫工人和消防员，都必须在周五下午5点之前提交至少接种一剂疫苗的证明。那些没有接种疫苗的人将被安排无薪休假，从周一开始，至少30天，他们未来的就业将通过与个别工会的谈判来解决。穿制服的狱警必须在12月1日前出示疫苗接种证明。

该市的消防员工会组织了周四的反疫苗强制集会，在市长比尔·白思豪的家乡格雷西大厦前的整个街区都聚集了起来。包括FDNY工会成员在内的市政雇员和其他人聚集在一起，一些人举着写着“我的身体是我的选择”和“胁迫不是同意”的牌子

吉纳·穆恩/美联社

纽约市政工人再次在格雷西大厦保护区外抗议...

大纽约穿制服消防员协会主席安德鲁·安布罗此前告诉记者，“很多”工会成员“仍在为做出这一决定而挣扎。”制服消防官员协会主席詹姆斯·麦卡锡也认为，10月20日宣布的最后期限“如果你打算从这份工作中退休，没有足够的时间做出退休决定。”

Ansbro警告说，如果目前未接种疫苗的约3500名消防员无法报到上班，将出现“灾难性的人力短缺”。FDNY周三表示，其65%的成员接种了疫苗。

市长周四坚持他的疫苗授权，称没有改变截止日期的计划。

德布拉西奥在新闻发布会上说:“我的工作是保护人们、我的员工和880万人的安全，在我们击败COVID之前，人们是不安全的。“如果我们不阻止COVID，纽约人就会死去。我们必须，必须阻止COVID，方法是接种疫苗。这必须包括我们的公职人员。”

关于该市消防、警察和卫生部门的潜在短缺，白思豪说，这些机构对应急计划“有信心”，该市预计“许多疫苗接种将在最后期限结束时进行。”

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德布拉西奥说，总体而言，该市30多万劳动力中有86%接种了疫苗。这包括面临更早截止日期的学校和医院员工。

他说，对于优秀的城市工作者，这一数字下降到76%，包括74%的警官和67%的环卫工人。

“我们非常有信心这些数字会大幅上升，”白思豪说。

到目前为止，暂停该市疫苗接种的法律挑战是失败的。

New York City firefighters protest vaccine mandate outside mayor's residence as deadline nears

New York City firefighters and other city workers protested outside the mayor's residence Thursday, as aCOVID-19 vaccination deadlinequickly approaches.

Nearly all municipal employees, including police officers, sanitation workers and firefighters, have until 5 p.m. Friday to submit proof of receiving at least one dose of vaccine. Those who don't get vaccinated will be placed on unpaid leave, starting Monday, for at least 30 days, and their future employment will be resolved in negotiations with individual labor unions. Uniformed correction officers have until Dec. 1 to show proof of vaccination.

The city's firefighters' unions organized Thursday's anti-vaccine mandate rally, which filled the entire block in front of Gracie Mansion, home to Mayor Bill de Blasio. Municipal employees, including FDNY union members, and others gathered, some holding signs that said "My body my choice" and "Coercion is not consent."

Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York President Andrew Ansbro previously told reporters that "a lot" of the union's members were "still struggling with making this decision." James McCarthy, president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, has also argued that the deadline, announced on Oct. 20, is "not enough time to make a retirement decision if you are going to retire from this job."

Ansbro has warned of a "catastrophic manpower shortage" if some 3,500 firefighters who are currently unvaccinated are unable to report to work. The FDNY said Wednesday that 65% of its members were vaccinated.

The mayor stood by his vaccine mandate Thursday, saying there are no plans to change the deadline.

"My job is to keep people safe, my employees, and 8.8 million people, and until we defeat COVID, people are not safe," de Blasio said during a press briefing. "If we don't stop COVID, New Yorkers will die. We must, must stop COVID and the way to do that is vaccination. And that must include our public employees."

On potential shortages in the city's fire, police and sanitation departments, de Blasio said that the agencies are "confident" about contingency plans, and that the city has anticipated that "a lot of the vaccinations would happen toward the end of the deadline."

Overall, 86% of the city's 300,000-plus workforce is vaccinated, de Blasio said. That includes school and hospital employees who faced earlier deadlines.

For outstanding city workers, that number drops to 76%, including 74% of police officers and 67% of sanitation workers, he said.

"We are very confident those numbers are going to go up a lot," de Blasio said.

Legal challenges to pause the city's vaccination mandate have so far beenunsuccessful.