Over 70% of Raleigh’s full-time workers are vaccinated. Where police and fire stand.
Roughly 70% of Raleigh’s full-time city employees are vaccinated against COVID-19.
But that percentage falls dramatically for the city’s part-time workers, with just over 30% vaccinated.
Of Raleigh’s 3,805 full-time employees, 2,710 are fully vaccinated. Of 2,728 part-time employees, 826 are fully vaccinated.
City employees had until Friday to get vaccinated or face weekly COVID-19 testing. Workers who refuse testing face “progressive discipline,” according to an email sent to employees.
And city workers were recently told they will not be considered for promotions without being vaccinated.
The city will also only be hiring people who are vaccinated “unless they have received a reasonable accommodation due to a medical condition or a sincerely held religious belief,” said Julia Milstead, public information officer for the city.
Police and fire department vaccination rates
That new promotion stipulation concerned the Raleigh Police Protective Association and the Raleigh Professional Fire Fighters Association.
“Natural immunity, medical and religious reasons should be taken into proper consideration by the city before implementing such policies,” the police association stated in a Facebook post. “Such policies may compel officers to leave the department while we are already experiencing staffing difficulties.”
Of the Raleigh Fire Department’s 600 employees, about 62% or 376 are vaccinated.
The percentage is slightly higher for the police department, with 542 out of 823 (about 65%) employees vaccinated.
“I support our city manager and our efforts to ensure that city employees are vaccinated — especially our first responders who have close interaction with the public,” Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said last week. “We want our police and firefighters to be safe and the public to be protected.”
Wake County
Wake County also required employees to be vaccinated or be tested weekly for COVID-19.
Out of 4,185 full-time and part-time employees, 3,623 or nearly 87%, have said they are fully vaccinated, according to a news release Monday.
“We’re extremely pleased with the results and applaud our employees for taking the right steps to help stop the spread of COVID-19,” said Matt Calabria, chair of the Wake County Board of Commissioners. “Getting vaccinated is the best way to bring Wake County out of this pandemic safely and return to a more normal way of life.”
Testing for unvaccinated employees begins on Wednesday and will continue until the county’s positivity rate is below 5% and there is “no significant or high community transmissions, according to a county news release.
The percentage of county workers fully vaccinated is higher than that for Wake County adults overall.
“Right now, 76.4% of adults in Wake County are fully vaccinated, and I’m proud to see that an even larger percentage of our employees got their shots,” said Dr. José G Cabañas, chief medical officer for Wake County and director of Wake EMS, said in the release.
This story was originally published September 20, 2021 at 1:11 PM with the headline "Over 70% of Raleigh’s full-time workers are vaccinated. Where police and fire stand.."
