While the vast majority of employees across most industries and sectors have acquiesced to mandatory vaccine mandates, enough Americans are refusing to get the jab that states and municipalities are losing a dangerous game of chicken with employees who refuse.

On Saturday, the New York Post reported that 26 New York fire companies have been shuttered citywide due to staff shortages caused by the Covid-19 vaccine mandate.

The stunning lockdown came amid a pitched battle between City Hall, which will start enforcing a mandate Monday that all workers have at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine – and jab-resisting fire fighters, many reportedly saying they were already sick with the coronavirus and therefore have “natural immunity.”

Across the Rockies, Los Angeles Country Sheriff Alex Villanueva has warned of an “imminent threat to public safety” caused by a “mass exodus” of thousands of deputies and civilian personnel who refuse to take the jab. “I could potentially lose 44% of my workforce in one day,” he wrote in a Thursday open letter to the Board of Supervisors, adding that he can’t enforce “reckless mandates that put public safety at risk.”

The Sheriff’s Department – the largest in the country – employs approximately 18,000 people. About half are sworn deputies.

Meanwhile in Arizona, a Tucson Water employee claims the department is ‘losing staff’ over the mandate. “We are watching employees walk out as I speak in the water quality and operations division,” reports KOLD13.  “We’re pulling people from other areas and other departments to help specifically cover the operations division which is overseeing the water quality and drinking water parameters,” the whistleblower added.

And American Airlines cancellations are disrupting transportation. The company scrubbed more than 1,900 flights over the weekend,  Company officials deny that the problem is related to a protest of the vaccine mandate. However, its phenomena is so similar to the massive cancellation Southwest had just a few months ago, as to raise questions about the cause.

The Chicago Fraternal Order of Police won a small victory in its fight against a city employee Covid-19 vaccine mandate on Monday when a county judge temporarily lifted the mandate’s requirement that all police be fully vaccinated or have a valid exemption by Dec. 31.

Cook County Judge Raymond Mitchell’s order still allows the city to put officers who refuse to report whether they are vaccinated on no-pay status, but it prevents the city from disciplining police who are not fully vaccinated or exempt by the end of the year.