On Monday, just 34 NYPD officers were suspended without pay after refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine as required by the city after the police union threatened that 10,000 officers would defy the regulation. Hundreds of officers are awaiting appeals seeking a religious exemption.
This comes after a Staten Island judge on Friday denied an NYPD union’s request to temporarily halt the implementation of the city-wide vaccine mandate.
The Police Benevolent Association, New York City’s largest police union, argued in court that the mandate does not clearly articulate potential medical or religious exemptions and does not give officers sufficient time to apply for those exemptions.
The PBA also added that the “Vax or Test” program implemented by the department has been largely effective.
“Today’s ruling sets the city up for a real crisis. The haphazard rollout of this mandate has created chaos in the NYPD. City Hall has given no reason that a vaccine mandate with a weekly testing option is no longer enough to protect police officers and the public, especially while the number of COVID-19 cases continues to fall,” said PBA President Patrick J. Lynch.
The union plans to appeal the judge’s ruling, calling the mandate is “arbitrary and capricious.”
