Members of NYPD face choice starting next week: Get vaxxed, get tested, or go home and don't get paid

Starting Monday, everyone who works for the New York Police Department will have to be vaccinated against COVID-19, get a weekly COVID test, or forfeit their paycheck, the New York Post reported Wednesday.

De Blasio's New York

Far-left Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio runs New York City with an iron fist — and he has used the pandemic and the vaccine to greatly increase his power. A few summertime examples:

• In July, he imposed a vaccine requirement for all city employees. That's 340,000 people told by Hizzoner to get jabbed.
• Last month, the mayor infamously declared that his subjects must get vaxxed if they want to participate in any indoor activities. He told them that not only were vaccines "necessary" for New Yorkers to live a "good and full and healthy life," but he also made sure they understood that he was in charge of their freedoms, saying, "If you want to participate in our society fully, you've got to get vaccinated."
• The same mayor who has repeatedly, like much of the rest of his party, opposed voter ID laws, signed an emergency executive order in August requiring venues to not only demand patrons show proof of vaccination but also photo identification.
• In an MSNBC interview about his mandates, the tone-deaf mayor justified his moves by saying, "Human beings do well when they have carrot and stick. So, a mandate helps people to realize it's time."

Now the NYPD, with which the current mayor has had a turbulent relationship, is implementing de Blasio's vaccine mandate, the Post said.

New police policy guidelines that the paper obtained will get the NYPD in line with the mayor's pandemic edicts for city workers to be vaccinated or tested regularly.

According to the report, both civilian and uniformed NYPD personnel who have elected to not get the shots will have to take a PCR test — rapid tests are not allowed — every week and upload the results to a new internal tracking system. The NYPD will soon make free tests available at 15 sites around the city, the paper said.

Based on available vaccination numbers, it looks like the city has some work to do. According to the Post, less than half of the NYPD's workforce — about 35,000 uniformed officers and another 18,000 civilian members — is vaccinated.

The most recent numbers from the NYPD posted in late August showed just 47% of NYPD members were vaxxed.

The NYPD has also implemented strict mask requirements for its officers: All unvaccinated cops must wear a mask at all times — both indoors and outdoors — and all cops, regardless of vax status, must be masked when interacting with the public.