NEW YORK – The largest New York City Police union is suing the city in state Supreme Court in Staten Island, the union announced Monday. This after promising legal action in response to the Big Apple’s most recent vaccination mandate.
The 20,000 or so NYC Police officers who have not been immunized will need to receive at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine beginning Oct. 29 and no weekly testing option. Otherwise they will be subjected to unpaid leave, the city announced last week.
The Union Police Benevolent Association He noted that getting vaccinated is a “personal medical decision” that officers must make in consultation with their doctors.
“Now that the city has moved to unilaterally impose a mandate, we will proceed with legal action to protect the rights of our members,” PBA President Pat Lynch said last week.
The union announced its lawsuit on Twitter, adding that it also plans to request a temporary restraining order while the case is pending.
Hundreds of officers, firefighters and other city workers marched and demonstrated in the city Monday afternoon to express their opposition to the mandate.
Under an executive order signed by the mayor last month, New York City Police officers must be vaccinated or tested for COVID-19 each week, but the new order means that about 20,000 unvaccinated officers must receive at least one dose before 5:00 pm on October 29 or receive an unpaid leave of absence, authorities said.
“We don’t want that for anyone,” de Blasio pleaded in his briefing on Wednesday. “We just want people to get vaccinated.”
The NYPD has about 34,500 uniformed personnel and about 17,700 people in non-uniformed support positions. It had a 61% vaccination rate last month, but that number jumped to 68% in less than two weeks, according to New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea.
The two commissioners who oversee America’s largest police and fire departments have already said earlier this month that they support the mandate of the members of their respective departments. Shea had even asked the officers in a video message, urging them to get vaccinated.
More than 60 New York City Police employees have died from COVID-19.
Various groups have already tried to challenge the mandate in court, and teachers have taken their case to the Supreme Court, which declined to hear it, but for the most part, the public health argument as justification for the rule has prevailed.
Overall, De Blasio says that about 46,000 of all city employees remain unvaccinated.
“That’s a lot of people, and they think of their families, they think of all the people they come in contact with,” said the mayor. “We are still fighting this war against COVID, let’s not kid ourselves. And the difference now, if we vaccinate people, we are going to save tens of thousands of lives. If we don’t, we are going to lose a lot of people who could have been saved and we’re not going to get out of this swamp. “
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