MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle blasted New York Police Department (NYPD) officers Monday who are protesting COVID-19 vaccine mandates by taking a sick day.
Ruhle quote tweeted a photo appearing to show a line of officers at an NYPD station lined up to call out of work sick as the vaccine mandate took effect Monday.
“This is NOT how you call out stick [sic]. This is how you put on a show for attention,” Ruhle tweeted.
This is NOT how you call out stick.
This is how you put on a show for attention. https://t.co/AYTEd0KzNQ— Stephanie Ruhle (@SRuhle) November 1, 2021
Spokesperson for Democratic New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Mitch Schwartz, said “nine thousand people [were] placed on leave without pay today,” with data showing around 22,800 municipal workers are unvaccinated, according to Fox News. (RELATED: Biden Admin Blocked From Firing Unvaccinated Workers With Pending Religious Exemptions)
“The rest are in various stages of having their accommodation requests reviewed. They can be at work,” Schwartz said.
De Blasio announced in October that all city municipal workers, including police and firefighters, would have until Oct. 29 to receive their first dose of the vaccine or risk losing their jobs.
The mandate has sparked backlash from hundreds of city employees, including NYPD and firefighters who took to the streets of Brooklyn protesting the mandates. The New York City Police Benevolent Association, the largest police union in the city, sued over the mandate, asking a judge to allow unvaccinated officers continue to work while the suit plays out in court.
The suit claims the mandate does not include protections for officers who may have a religious exemption and does not allow for weekly testing rather than the vaccine.