The largest police union in New York City is planning to file a lawsuit if the city tries to force police officers to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
“If the City attempts to impose a vaccine mandate on PBA members, we will take legal action to defend our members’ right to make such personal medical decisions,” Police Benevolent Association (PBA) President Patrick Lynch said in an email obtained by the New York Post.
So far, the city hasn’t indicated whether it will impose a vaccine mandate on the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) officers, he added.
City workers in New York must either get a COVID-19 shot or submit to weekly testing, Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, announced last month. More recently, de Blasio announced that teachers and other school staffers must get a vaccine or face termination.
While New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said on NY1 last last year that officers wouldn’t be required to get a COVID-19 vaccine, that has changed.
Asked this week if he would support a mandate, Shea said he would.
“One hundred percent. I think we’re well past that time. We lost three members last week, two of them to COVID, and I think it’s all unnecessary to some degree,” he said. “Everyone, I think, all across this country really should be embracing these vaccines.”
Shea noted that the Pfizer vaccine was fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration before adding, “I think everyone should be lining up to get it that hasn’t gotten it yet.”
The NYPD has approximately 36,000 officers; it’s the nation’s largest police force.
Police officers in New York who haven’t filed proof of COVID-19 vaccination must wear masks while on duty, including when they’re outdoors, the department informed officers last week, according to local outlets.
Officers who don’t abide by the new rules could face “disciplinary action,” a bulletin to officers stated.
COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.
