While urging all of his officers to get their COVID-19 vaccines, Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore also promised to approve an unlimited number of exemptions for employees, according to a recently uncovered internal video.
“My commitment is to honor every exemption request, every request for accommodation, possible with regards to this COVID vaccine,” Moore said in a video sent to officers last Friday. “And also ensure that your rights are protected, but also encourage you to take the vaccine.”
Moore’s video to his staff comes the same week that the city’s strict proof of vaccination requirements went into effect - and follows mandates requiring that all city and staff workers provide proof of vaccination or apply for exemptions and submit to weekly testing.
All exemption requests submitted by city employees must be approved by departments and a panel of retired employees, according to NBC 4. In response to the news channel’s investigative team, a senior LAPD official clarified that Moore meant that he would honor all exemptions that are first approved by the city’s evaluation team.
But according to the report, the Chief has the power to appeal the decision, reversing any denial and granting employee exemptions.
On Tuesday, Moore said nearly eight out of 10 LAPD employees have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, putting them just behind the overall county average.
He added the department hand-delivered more than 2,000 notices to unvaccinated workers, informing them they must either be vaccinated by mid-December or pay for regular COVID testing.
So far, Moore said, only two sworn officers and one other employee had been suspended with pay over refusing to comply with the city’s vaccine mandate.
The department estimated more than 1,500 of its personnel were vaccinated through its own mobile clinics.
“That now leaves us as of [Monday] with 78% of our workforce now either fully vaccinated or partially vaccinated,” Moore said. “The 73% are fully vaccinated, the remaining 5% have received that first dose and are on a path to receive the second dose as prescribed.”
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