Some police officers and their unions oppose vaccination mandates

'Hell no': Some police officers and their unions oppose vaccination mandates New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said that he is "100 percent" behind a vaccination requirement and that a mandate should come from the state or federal levels. NBC News

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Police unions in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Seattle; and Syracuse, New York, have pushed back against vaccination requirements, as has the union representing state police in Massachusetts.

This week, just days after New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said Education Department employees must receive at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine by Sept. 27, the city's largest police union told its members in an email that it would take legal action to defend their "right to make such personal medical decisions" if they faced the same requirement.

A union spokesman on Thursday confirmed the contents of the email, which was first reported by the New York Post. The spokesman declined to comment about why officers are reluctant to get vaccinated. ...

According to data compiled by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, a nonprofit in Washington that tracks law enforcement deaths, Covid-19 killed more officers in 2020 than gun violence, car accidents and all other causes combined.

While it is not clear what percentage of officers across the country have been vaccinated against the coronavirus, vaccination rates for two of the country's largest departments are below the national rate. ...