The City of New York has announced that it has issued a mandate that requires all City employees to be vaccinated.
The DEA believes that the COVID-19 vaccine is a medical decision that our members must make in consultation with their own healthcare providers and families.
Therefore, we will continue to protect the rights of those members who choose not to be vaccinated. We will attempt to secure reasonable accommodations and exemptions for those members who require such.
The DEA will defend our members’ right to make their own personal medical decisions, and the union will be pursuing our members’ rights via collective bargaining and in Court.
But first, we are awaiting the NYPD’s official documentation about the mandate.
Please note that the DEA was instrumental in making the COVID-19 vaccine available to all of our members who want it, and some 70% of our membership has received at least one dose of the vaccine. We also continue to notify our members of the weekly vaccination scheduled offered for free by the NYPD.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, policies and procedures have had a tendency to change, literally, on an hour-by-hour basis and this issue of vaccine mandates has been no different.
As we have indicated all along, we are experiencing managerial decisions, as well as science, in real time: as it happens. Therefore, we will keep our members apprised as information develops.
Paul DiGiacomo
& the DEA Board of Officers
