MTA slow to vax despite death toll

Just 58 percent of MTA employees have told the agency they’re vaccinated against COVID-19, officials said Monday — even as unvaccinated staffers have accounted for all three transit-worker deaths from the virus this summer.

Officials have enacted a “vaccine-or-get-tested” policy on a voluntary basis until Oct. 12 — after which employees who have not informed the MTA of their vaccination status will be required to undergo weekly testing.

Transit-union leaders have urged officials to go slow. At Monday’s MTA board safety committee meeting, the LIRR workforce’s nonvoting representative warned that a strict requirement could send some workers heading for the exit.

In all, 171 employees have died from COVID, an MTA spokesman said. Of the nearly three dozen COVIDrelated deaths since vaccines became available, the MTA has no record that any victims were inoculated.