New York City has placed about 9,000 municipal workers who defied a vaccine mandate on unpaid leave. Mayor Bill de Blasio says 91% of New York employees got at least one shot ahead of Monday’s deadline.

In Illinois, a Cook County judge has blocked the city of Chicago’s mandate for police officers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by December 31, saying the issue should be settled in arbitration. Some 1,700 Chicago police officers report they are unvaccinated, and a further 3,000 have refused to report their vaccination status to the city.