The COVID-19 vaccine mandates are promoted by their architects and mainstream media as a measure to keep the public “safe.” After all, “we’re in the midst of the global pandemic,” they say. However, the vax mandate for New York City public workers, including policemen, firefighters, and sanitation workers, may soon endanger the public at previously unseen levels.
On Wednesday, Staten Island Supreme Court denied a police union’s request to temporarily halt the implementation of the city’s vaccine mandate set to take effect November 1.
In the lawsuit, New York’s largest police union, the Police Benevolent Association (PBA), which represents over 24,000 current NYPD officers, argued that getting the vaccine is a personal medical decision and that the mandate violated the officers’ bodily autonomy. The PBA contended that the option for a weekly COVID test as an alternative to vaccination should be reinstated. In addition to that, the mandate did not make clear potential exceptions for medical or religious reasons and did not allow unvaccinated officers sufficient time to apply for such exemptions, per the union.
Unfortunately for the NYC policemen, the Richmond County Supreme Court Judge on Wednesday also shot down the PBA’s request for a temporary restraining order to halt the mandate. The PBA has immediately filed an appeal, but for now, the policemen and all other city workers who do not attest to their COVID vaccination status by 5:00 p.m. EST today will be placed on unpaid leave starting Monday. Those cops who filed for an exemption will be allowed to work while their paperwork is pending, according to NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea.
Previous challenges to the city’s vaccine mandates for the Education Department have similarly been rejected in federal court.
In a statement on Wednesday, PBA President Patrick Lynch said the consequences of the police losing officers would be devastating for the city: “Today’s ruling sets the city up for a real crisis. The haphazard rollout of this mandate has created chaos in the NYPD.”
Per the PBA estimates, nearly 10,000 officers and civilian staffers, or a third of the police force, hadn’t gotten the vaccine as of Thursday.
Vincent Vallelong, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, sees the draconian vax mandate as a form of anti-police agenda. “New Yorkers need to wake up,” Vallelong said on Thursday. “Mayor Bill de Blasio’s mandate is ‘Defund the Police’ in disguise. Criminals know this, and they will take full advantage of the situation to create chaos on our streets.”
Paul DiGiacomo, president of the Detectives’ Endowment Association, said that the mayor’s mandate would “sideline hundreds of detectives” in the city ravaged by a crime crisis. The mandate, which DiGiacomo called “needless and politically motivated,” would further deteriorate the situation, hurt crime victims, stall investigations, and let violent offenders “go free.”
Commissioner Shea said Friday the force “will be ok.” Shea stated that personnel who ordinarily are not doing patrol functions would be reassigned to the streets, and that the police would also temporarily suspend training to “free up additional bodies.”
The vax mandate will also affect the Big Apple’s firefighters and, by extension, the fire safety of the city. According to the New York Post, the Fire Department is preparing to shutter as many as 20 percent of all city fire companies since some 35 percent of the firefighters did not get a jab.
New York Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said he will address the issue by introducing mandatory overtime, and will use such means as mutual aid from other emergency services providers. Some of the firefighters feel nothing good will come out of it: “People will die in this city,” one of the firefighters told the outlet, commenting on the looming labor shortages.
Meanwhile, New York air is getting spoiled by the mounting piles of trash, since sanitation workers, more than a third of whom are unvaccinated, appear to be skipping garbage pick-ups in protest to the mandate. If unvaccinated garbage collectors get booted on Monday, the city might just drown in trash.
Despite the rapidly deteriorating situation, Mayor Bill de Blasio firmly stood by his decision Thursday, requiring all city employees to get vaccinated.
“My job is to keep people safe, my employees and 8.8 million people,” de Blasio said. “Until we defeat COVID, people are not safe. If we don’t stop COVID, New Yorkers will die. We must stop COVID, and the way to do that is vaccination. And that must include our public employees, in fact, they need to lead the way.” De Blasio did not mention those people who will die due to the violent crime hastened by the dramatically shrunken police force, or those who will die due to firemen not coming on time.
Instead, the mayor expressed his confidence in the coercive nature of his requirement, saying that “a lot of the vaccinations would happen toward the end of the deadline” since the workers will realize they won’t be receiving a paycheck come Monday.
This week, thousands of municipal workers took to the streets to protest the city’s vaccine mandate. Reportedly, some 50,000 New York city workers are refusing the COVID shot.
