Members of the Springfield Police Department will start getting vaccinated against COVID-19 this week. But the commissioner said a good number of her officers won’t be in line.
Springfield Police Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood said appointments to receive the vaccine filled up quickly — but some members of the department are holding off after testing positive for COVID-19. About 75 have done so in the past two months.
Clapprood said she hopes many of the remaining people will get a shot.
"I've encouraged it," she said. "Get the vaccine, if you haven't had a positive — and the sooner people do, the sooner we can get back to the way we operated before."
A police department spokesman said vaccines aren't mandated. And because of federal privacy regulations, the Springfield police don't know exactly how many officers are getting the vaccine.
The fire commissioner of Springfield said his department has been hit less hard by COVID-19, and he hopes 70% of his workforce will end up wanting to take the vaccine.
