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The city of San Francisco will reportedly act to suspend members of its police, fire and sheriff departments who have refused to disclose their COVID-19 vaccination status. 

The San Francisco Chronicle reported on Thursday that 17 employees were slated to receive a letter from their respective heads outlining the consequences for failing to report that information by the August 12 deadline. 

The city, the newspaper said, is recommending a 10-day unpaid suspension as punishment – though it’s up to managers to make the decision that can be appealed – and that hundreds of employees in other departments could receive similar letters next week.

“The health and well-being of city employees and the public we serve are top priorities during our emergency response to COVID-19,” the letter said, according to The Chronicle. “Your failure to comply with the vaccination status reporting requirement endangers the health and safety of the city’s workforce and the public we serve.”

The outlet said the department had already given employees a two-week-long extension during which to do so.

“Fortunately, nearly 100% of employees have reported their vaccination status to the City and nearly 90% are vaccinated,” Department of Human Resources Chief of Policy Mawuli Tugbenyoh wrote in an e-mail to Fox News.

A City of San Francisco police officer stands in front of a Bank of America Corp. branch in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Tuesday, June 16, 2020. 
( David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The West Coast metropolis announced in June that it would mandate all employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 pending approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), barring valid exemptions.

The Chronicle reported then that those who refuse to be vaccinated in the 10 weeks after FDA approval without a proper medical or religious exemption could potentially be fired from their jobs.

Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccines are currently under emergency use authorization by the agency.

In response, the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association has threatened a wave of resignations and The Chronicle said that a San Francisco firefighter had sued the city.

The majority of the 36,000 city workers say they are vaccinated, but about 4,300 have not. 

This comes as one of the country’s most stringent restrictions on unvaccinated people takes effect, requiring any San Franciscans who want to eat, drink or exercise indoors to show they are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.

San Francisco, like much of the U.S., has seen a worrying surge in cases of the highly transmissible delta variant. 

That said, city data shows that the daily case rate has dropped since the beginning of the month.

More than 80% of the city’s eligible population is vaccinated and the city and Bay Area counties were the first in the country to order residents to stay at home during the pandemic.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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