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Anthony S. Fauci, the United States’ top infectious-disease expert, is urging police officers to get vaccinated against the coronavirus — saying the resistance “doesn’t make any sense” as “more police officers die of covid than they do in other causes of death.” Police departments are facing an infection crisis as departments around the country seeking to mandate vaccines clash with police unions and officers who oppose the requirements. (Pietsch, Timsit and Beachum, 10/18)

Police departments around the U.S. that are requiring officers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 are running up against pockets of resistance that some fear could leave law enforcement shorthanded and undermine public safety. Police unions and officers are pushing back by filing lawsuits to block the mandates. In Chicago, the head of the police union called on members to defy the city’s Friday deadline for reporting their COVID-19 vaccination status. (Calvan and Seewer, 10/15)

A day after Chicago police officers were required to disclose their Covid-19 vaccine status or risking losing pay, the city's police department issued a memo informing officers elective time off is restricted, according to a copy of the memo obtained by CNN affiliate WLS. "Until further notice, the use of elective time by sworn CPD members is restricted. Furthermore, the use of elective time will require prior approval from the Deputy chief or above within the requesting member's chain of command," the memo obtained by WLS reads. (Allen, 10/18)

The first full week of mandates requiring all municipal workers in Baltimore and Baltimore County to either be vaccinated or undergo regular testing has begun, but tabulating the exact number of police and firefighters who complied remains a work in progress, officials said. Residents in many cities and towns throughout the region hoping to find out the status of the person responding to their 911 calls are out of luck. That’s because the vast majority of departments say that if there is no mandate they aren’t even asking the vaccination status of their employees, according to a survey of area police and fire departments, and local officials. (Anderson, 10/18)

COVID-19 is the leading cause of death for police officers even though members of law enforcement were among the first to be eligible to receive the vaccine, CNN reports, citing data from the Officer Down Memorial Page. Nearly 476 police officers have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic started, compared to the 93 deaths as a result of gunfire in the same time period, according to ODMP and CNN. (Frazier, 10/16)