NYPD commissioner supports mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for nearly all city cops

NYPD commissioner Dermot Shea said Tuesday he hopes the city or state would issue a government edict mandating that nearly all 35,000 cops in the department get the COVID-19 vaccination.

Speaking during an interview on NY1, Shea said it was high time for everyone in the country to be embracing the vaccines. Asked if he would agree that cops should be told to get vaccinated by government mandate, Shea didn’t quibble.

"Yes, I would, 100%. I have said it many times. We are well past that time," Shea answered.

Currently, NYPD officers are strongly recommended to get vaccinated and have been ordered to wear masks when interacting with the public, regardless of their vaccine status. As of last week, about 47% of cops on the force have been vaccinated.

More than 60 members of the NYPD, including civilian employees and officers, have died from the virus, officials have said.

Shea said that any mandate for cops to be vaccinated had to come from Mayor Bill DeBlasio, who Monday ordered all teachers and Board of Education personnel be vaccinated by late September, or newly sworn-in Gov. Kathy Hochul. Shea hinted that he might have the authority as well.

"Everyone, I think, all across the country should be embracing these vaccines," said Shea, who in January suffered from COVID-19 himself. "We trusted vaccines in this country for decades. It has eradicated really serious diseases before. We are well into that point right now. There are just so many unnecessary losses, in my opinion, right now."

Shea acknowledged that such a mandate would have to be sculpted to take into account medical conditions or other relevant factors.

One key issue looming for any vaccine mandate for police or other government workers is the constraint of collective bargaining agreements. On Monday, District Council 37, the union for municipal employees in the school system, said it believed the city didn’t have the power to impose a vaccine mandate — which they said amounted to a change in terms and condition of employment — without bargaining. Unions making up the Municipal Labor Committee would file an unfair labor practice against such a mandate with the state Public Employee Relations Board, said DC 37 executive director Henry Garrido in a statement.

"I am pro-vaccine but also pro-choice," said Ed Mullins, head of the Sergeant’s Benevolent Association. Mullins said a vaccine mandate for cops had to be negotiated with police unions, and cover exemptions and disciplinary impacts. A spokesman for the Police Benevolent Association had no comment.

DeBlasio didn’t address a cop mandate directly Tuesday but said all alternatives were being considered.

Hochul on Tuesday said she wanted to institute vaccine-or-test mandates for school employees.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.