A major COVID vaccine mandate deadline looms Tuesday over Rikers Island and other New York City jails amid a staffing crisis.
All Department fo Correction workers must be vaccinated by 5 p.m. Tuesday or risk being suspended without pay. As of last week, just 72% of correction officers had gotten at least one shot.
Most city workers had to be vaccinated by the end of October, but Mayor Bill de Blasio gave uniformed correction officers a month-long extension due to the ongoing crisis at Rikers.
A guard shortage has thrust the overcrowded jail into what’s been called a humanitarian crisis.
The staffing shortage is due in part to excessive sick calls, leading to many correction officers being forced into double or triple shifts.
Local and federal officials again toured Rikers Island ahead of the city’s latest vaccine mandate and warned of what could come if hundreds of officers don’t show up to work on Wednesday.
Hours before the mandate is set to take effect, the mayor signed an executive order giving the city’s jails the ability to put correction officers on 12-hour shifts.
De Blasio is convinced that those who have been hesitant will ultimately comply in the way city personnel in other sectors have in recent weeks.
However, the situation for those working on Rikers makes the matter much more complicated.
