The NYPD will start offering the COVID-19 vaccine to its force within two weeks, The Post has learned.
The department’s medical unit will set up three locations — Floyd Bennet Field, Rodman’s Neck Outdoor Range and Flushing Meadow Park Aquatic Center — to administer the Moderna vaccine to officers who want it starting Dec. 29, according to a memo obtained by The Post.
The officers as first-responders are part of the first group to have access to the initial batch of more than a half-million doses in New York, but it will not be mandatory.
Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said Tuesday it will be voluntary, similar to the flu vaccine.
Immunization will not be required for anyone on the city payroll, Mayor Bill de Blasio said previously.
The Police Benevolent Association has come out as being opposed to mandatory immunization and sources told the Post they were wary of the vaccine, which was authorized for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration on Friday.
“People aren’t sure about the vaccine,” a detective with two decades on the force said. “I don’t take the flu shot. So if i don’t take the flu shot i’m damn sure not taking this.”
Another source said he’d “probably get it” but others may not right away.
“I’m hearing guys are waiting for the first round to go through,” he said.
The coronavirus is the leading cause of on-duty deaths among law enforcement in the United States this year.
