Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said Tuesday that he “100 percent” supports the city’s new COVID-19 vaccination-or-test mandate for all city workers — but believes the NYPD’s inoculation rate is higher than reported figures.
The top cop made the comments on NY1, where host Pat Kiernan described the department’s latest vaccination rate — 43 percent of its uniformed and civilian employees, or just over 23,000 of its total 54,000 workforce — as “abysmal,” and asked him what he could do to improve it.
Shea replied that the figures — which reflect only the vaccines doled out by the NYPD — may not show the full picture.
“I fully expect that number is higher from the outside,” Shea said. “I know many people that have gotten it through their own doctors and things of that nature.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday that the entire city workforce — including the NYPD — will soon need to submit to weekly testing if they are not inoculated against the coronavirus.
Additionally, city officials said the city, beginning Aug. 2, will require unvaccinated city workers to wear a mask at their workplaces — or face removal from them and suspension without pay.
Shea said the NYPD will work to make sure its members fall in line with that order.
“We’re continuing to stress it and I support this move 100 percent,” the commissioner said. “Because you know, when you feel sick, you go to the doctor and you listen to the doctor. And to me, this isn’t that complicated. We’ve eradicated diseases in this country. This is another one. You know the vaccines work.”
He added that five members of the department are currently hospitalized with COVID — “some quite serious condition, and all unvaccinated.”
“So it’s just a move, that you know, we’re continuing to stress it,” Shea said. “We’re going to comply with the order and we’re going to move forward.”
“You know, when you look at who’s getting sick right now, every story I hear anecdotally, it’s somebody that is not vaccinated, and God forbid you put yourself and your loved ones or anyone else at risk,” he said. “It’s the right thing to do.”
Also Tuesday morning, de Blasio said the “voluntary phase is over” in the effort to administer COVID-19 vaccinations to city workers.
He hinted that mandatory jabs for the Big Apple’s workforce could come soon — while stopping short of confirming any such action.
“Yes, we are climbing a ladder. I’m not answering yes to your question yet,” he said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“But if that’s not enough, I think we got to be ready to climb the ladder more,” he added. “We’ve got to put pressure on this situation.”