NYPD Union Sues City over COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate

The New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) largest union — the Police Benevolent Association (PBA) — filed a lawsuit against New York City Monday as part of an effort to block Mayor Bill de Blasio’s (D) coronavirus vaccine mandate.

The New York Daily News reports:

The lawsuit, filed in Staten Island Supreme Court by the Police Benevolent Association, argued that the NYPD’s “vax or test” program, which requires unvaccinated officers to get tested weekly, was enough to protect against the spread COVID-19. De Blasio scrapped that plan last week in favor of a mandate that applies to all 160,000 municipal workers.

“The city has provided no explanation, much less a rational one, for the need to violate the autonomy and privacy of NYPD police officers in such a severe manner, on the threat of termination,” said lawyers for PBA.

“We have fought to make the vaccine available to every member who chooses it, while also protecting their right to make that personal medical decision in consultation with their own doctor,” PBA President Patrick Lynch stated.

The development comes after De Blasio recently told reporters that he prefers to “respect people’s intelligence” before mandating vaccines. The mayor’s comments came in response to a question as to why he had not yet proceeded with a mandate for city workers.

“I think everyone out there is mature adults. I’d like to respect people’s intelligence,” de Blasio said. “We have, I think, pretty meticulously over the course of the pandemic tried to figure out what made sense to do, when, and make sure we had all the pieces in place.”

“I do believe you sequence things in different ways. And there are still issues we have to understand better and resolve. It’s not always a matter of just push a button. You have to get things right,” he added.