New York police and firefighters will soon have no choice but to be vaccinated against Covid-19 to continue serving, a decision that risks causing a stir, like other large cities American.
After teachers and caregivers, all trades of some 160,000 municipal employees in New York will be affected by a strict vaccination obligation from November 1, from police to firefighters through garbage collectors.
But the boss of the city’s main police union (NYCPBA), Patrick Lynch, who had supported Donald Trump’s re-election campaign in the summer of 2020, immediately vowed to take the decision of Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio to court. “to protect the freedoms of our members”, while recalling that he was not opposed to the vaccine.
A scenario already observed in other major American cities.
In Chicago, the boss of the police union called on its 13,000 members to disobey the orders of the Democratic mayor Lori Lightfoot, who imposed vaccination or regular tests for Covid-19 for the police. In the third largest city in the United States, the union hopes to win the showdown by showing that the streets need police, amid rising crime.
A speech also heard in Boston. “Lack of staff is the biggest threat to public safety today,” Massachusetts State Police Association president Michael Cherven said Monday at a press conference. deploring the already insufficient staff, even though he agreed that 85% of the members of his organization were vaccinated.
– Controversy –
Since the start of the pandemic, Covid-19 has been the main cause of death “in service” of police officers in the United States, with 237 deaths from the coronavirus in 2021 against 50 by firearms, out of a total of 369.
In New York, nearly 71% of all officers (55,000, including nearly 35,000 in uniform) have received at least one dose of the vaccine, the NYPD police department told AFP on Wednesday. A figure well below the total adult population of the city (84%) but up since September, when it stood at 61% among police officers.
In this context, a video circulating since Tuesday on social networks has given rise to a controversy: it shows two agents, a man and a woman, unceremoniously pushing out of a subway platform a man who asks them to wear a mask, as is the rule for all passengers, including the police.
“There’s no excuse. We’re better than that,” NYPD boss Dermot Shea told a press conference on Wednesday, announcing disciplinary proceedings against the two officers.
– 500 dollars –
Until now, the police or the New York firefighters had the choice between the vaccine or the regular presentation of a negative test for Covid. To justify its change of line, the town hall highlights the fact that the strict obligation has increased the rate of vaccinated to more than 95% among teachers and caregivers in the city.
Kneeling in 2020, with its images of overwhelmed hospitals and improvised morgues, the great cultural and economic capital of the eastern United States (nearly 9 million inhabitants) already requires the vaccine to enter restaurants , cinemas, or gyms, or even to attend outdoor shows.
But “there are still a lot of employees in the city who are not vaccinated (around 46,000 out of 160,000). I want to protect them. I want to protect their families” and “everyone they come into contact with in the city”, assured Bill de Blasio, on CNN Wednesday.
To motivate the most hesitant, the town hall promises a bonus of $ 500 on their payslip for officials who will receive their first dose before October 29. After this period, the recalcitrant will see their remuneration suspended.
The only exception are prison guards, for whom the obligation is postponed to December 1 because of staffing problems at Rikers Island prison, where the deterioration of detention conditions is constantly pointed out.
Compulsory vaccination remains a sensitive subject in the United States, between Democrats and Republicans. In Texas, the second most populous state in the country with 29 million people, far from taxing it, Republican Governor Greg Abbott has banned all entities, including private companies, from requiring immunization.
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