Essential Detroit workers receive COVID-19 vaccine

DETROIT (FOX 2) - On Friday, a thumbs up from Detroit’s top cop after getting his COVID-19 vaccine.

"I feel good," Detroit Police Chief James Craig said. "It is one less stressor that I have to worry about." 

In March, the chief got COVID-19 and got sick. At one point more than 600 of his officers had it or were quarantined.

"The disease is real, the disease is deadly," he said.

On Friday, 130 members of the Detroit Police Department were to get shots, kicking off the rollout where Craig has been encouraging his men and women to vaccinate.  

"It's mixed," he said of the reaction. "There are some people that want to wait. I respect that, but I’d rather deal with the side effect of the vaccine than fight that deadly disease."

Across town, there was another round - of essential workers receiving the shots.

"Starting today within the next week or two, we expect that everyone will have had the opportunity to take the vaccine. The city begins vaccinating D-DOT operators along with other essential workers," said Mikel Oglesby, executive director of transit for Detroit.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig gets the COVID-19 vaccine.

There are 535 Detroit Department of Transportation drivers in total. 

"Starting today within the next week or two everybody will have the opportunity to take the vaccine," he said.

DDOT employees have been on the frontline all along and some have already been hit with the virus.

The city’s head of transportation getting his own to set the tone for these drivers.