The NYPD will now pay its unvaccinated cops to meet their weekly coronavirus testing requirements — reversing a stricter policy that put the onus on officers who refused to get the jab to prove they aren’t infected, The Post has learned.
Police sources said department leadership started preparing Friday for the crush of their unvaccinated members who need to get tested next week and already pulled officers from patrol to staff the medical division to help with testing.
Just days earlier, the NYPD — which has struggled to get its vaccination rate to about 50 percent — rolled out a plan to have unvaccinated officers provide proof of a negative COVID test on a weekly basis on their own time.
If they failed to provide proof, they would have been sent home without pay, read the policy, which put the department in line with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s executive order for unvaccinated city workers.
The move shocked the police unions leaders who said they were told testing would be conducted on the job and threatened to bring the grievance before the Board of Collective Bargaining.
The policy now will not force officers to prove they are negative for the coronavirus starting Monday — a deadline set by the mayor for his vaccination or weekly testing plan.
The NYPD is planning to set up testing centers at eight to 10 of the commands with the largest unvaccinated staff, according to an email from the Detective Endowment Association to its members. All other commands will be provided self-testing kits.
Members will be allowed to work as they await the results, PBA President Pat Lynch told his members in a separate email.
The testing plan will be rolled out sometime next week, according to the email telling cops the Sept. 13 deadline is “no longer valid.”
Lynch wrote “this information remains subject to change” and the union was awaiting “a formal Department communication implementing this program.”
The unions say they were told of the change by Police Commissioner Dermot Shea Friday afternoon.
The mayor’s press secretary disputed the NYPD pushing the deadline, saying, “The rule remains the same, nothing has changed.”
The NYPD did not immediately respond for comment.
Members of the police department have been slow to get the jab despite being one of the first groups eligible and losing more than 60 members of the department to the virus.
As of last month, only 47 percent of the just under 35,000 uniformed officers and nearly 18,000 civilian members are inoculated. Nearly 80 percent of city residents have had at least one dose.
Unvaccinated officers are required to wear their masks at almost all times while on duty, according to a strict masking policy last month.
Additional reporting by Tina Moore
