KTLA

Only 60% of LAPD officers, employees willing to take COVID-19 vaccine: Survey

The LAPD headquarters appears in an undated photo. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

An informal survey of Los Angeles Police Department employees found significant skepticism about COVID-19 vaccines, with just 60% of respondents saying they would accept the shots when offered.

About 20% of the 9,500 respondents to the unscientific internal poll said they first needed more information about the vaccines, which experts and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say are safe. The remaining 20% said they would decline vaccinations, LAPD Chief Michel Moore said Tuesday.

Moore said he would gladly take the vaccine himself when it was his turn and that it was the department’s job “to communicate, provide transparency and encourage people to participate” in getting vaccinated as soon as the shots were available to them.

“This vaccination is not just safe, but it’s effective,” Moore said, “and it’s the way out of this pandemic, and we are asking all of our members on a voluntary basis to step into this and be vaccinated.”

Read the full story on LATimes.com.