SAN DIEGO —
Brandon Gibson knows just how serious COVID-19 is. He beat back the disease two months ago.
“It kicked my butt,” he said.
Yet he quit the San Diego police force earlier this month after 10 years because he is not ready to get the vaccine, an imminent condition of employment for city workers.
“I am not an anti-vaxer,” Gibson, 45, said in a recent interview.
He appreciates science, he said, but he has concerns about serious side effects — which health officials say are rare — and doesn’t agree with the city’s mandate.
“It’s really infringing on our freedoms,” he said. “It’s my body; it’s my choice.”
So he quit.
Whether Gibson will be an outlier among the San Diego Police Department’s 1,982 rank-and-file officers will soon be evident. Wednesday is the deadline for all city employees to show proof of vaccination or request a religious or medical exemption.
According to city figures, around 60 percent of officers were vaccinated as of Nov. 17.
Mayor Todd Gloria on Monday will ask the City Council to move forward with the mandate, which the city announced in late August, despite an impasse with the San Diego Police Officers Association over the requirements.
“The way out of this pandemic is through vaccines — and the City of San Diego will lead by example,” Gloria said in a recent statement. “With City employees regularly interacting with members of the public, this vaccination...
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