An Albuquerque city council member is pushing for a vaccine mandate in the city’s police and fire departments as unions remain dead set against the idea.

This comes alongside concerns from the fire and police unions that dozens of officers and firefighters may quit the already short-staffed departments if such a mandate were put into place, according to KRQE. 

“We have a staffing crisis, we have a crime crisis and this is what city council wants to work on,” Albuquerque Police Officer Association President Shaun Willoughby told the station. 

Council Member Isaac Benton proposed the mandate, pushing for it to either be approved or substituted with weekly COVID-19 testing.

In April 2020, nearly 40 Albuquerque Police officers were out on quarantine at one time due to exposure to COVID-19.

The vaccine mandate resolution will be introduced at the next City Council meeting. If it passes at a later date, the vaccine mandate would go into effect three weeks after it has been approved.