YAHOO reports (my comments in italics):

Police officers were among the first front-line workers to gain priority access to coronavirus vaccines. But their vaccination rates are lower than or about the same as those of the general public, according to data made available by some of the nation’s largest law enforcement agencies.

Police have a greater understanding of criminal minds. They would naturally decline. They don’t easily fall for this “priority access” gimmick. 

The reluctance of police to get the shots threatens not just their own health but the safety of people they’re responsible for guarding, monitoring and patrolling, experts say.

The refusal of the police to take an experimental drug is common sense. Their example may protect others.

 At the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, 39% of employees have gotten at least one dose, officials said, compared to more than 50% of eligible adults nationwide. In Atlanta, 36% of sworn officers have been vaccinated. Twenty-eight percent of those employed by the Columbus Division of Police – Ohio’s largest police department – report having received a shot.

The Columbus police are significantly smarter than the Las Vegas police.

“I think it’s unacceptable,” Joe Lombardo, the head of Las Vegas police and sheriff of Clark County, said of the demand for the shots within his force.

Are you getting, Mr. Lombardo, any federal or state COVID grants that might affect your judgment?

The numbers paint a troubling picture of policing and public health. Because officers have high rates of diabetes, heart disease and other conditions, their hesitancy puts them at greater risk of serious illness from the coronavirus while undermining force readiness, experts said. Police officers were more likely to die of covid-19, the illness that can be caused by the novel coronavirus, last year than of all other causes combined, according to data compiled by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

A troubling picture … What melodramatic garbage. No one would think to be troubled by this unless told to be troubled by it. Police departments have done fine for years against the flu. They need fewer doughnuts, not potentially-lethal laboratory potions.

Police hesitancy also means officers may be vectors of spread to vulnerable people with whom they interact during traffic stops, calls for service and other high-contact encounters.

 At least these upstanding refuseniks will not be walking propaganda vectors. (It’s not “hesitancy.” It’s refusal.) 

All in all, this article is a glimmer of hope in a sea of depressing news.

(H/t Steve for news clip.)

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