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Eight unvaccinated members of the NYPD — one just 23 years old — are fighting for their lives after contracting COVID-19, as the city’s top cop issued yet another impassioned plea to his force to get jabbed, The Post has learned.
“Why do I keep coming back to you on this? Because I’m talking to family members, I’m talking to union representatives of multiple ranks, I’m talking to you and your partners when it’s too late when you’re in the hospital, or you’re driving to the hospital, and you have a difficulty breathing,” Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said in a video to the NYPD Thursday.
“If you wait, it could be too late.”
Shea said the members, who were “all perfectly healthy,” are in serious condition and that some are on ventilators. One is just 23 and another hasn’t been sick in more than 10 years, he added.
Members of the NYPD, who were among the first groups eligible to get the jab in January, only have a vaccination rate of 61 percent as of Wednesday — which leaves just over 20,000 employees vulnerable to the coronavirus, according to the video obtained by The Post.
The police inoculation rate, which remains one of the lowest among city agencies, lags compared to the more than 80 percent of city residents who are eligible for the vaccine having had at least one dose.
As of last month, fewer than half of the just under 35,000 uniformed officers and nearly 18,000 civilian members were inoculated.
Shea called the increase “pretty good” but said the 39 percent of employees who are unvaccinated was “bad news.”
“Think about a 23-year-old man, perfectly healthy and now fighting, fighting for his life. Think about his family and friends and how that is going to impact them,” Shea said.
“Do it right now. And please when you see this … spread the word,” he said, adding that fewer than 250 vaccinated officers have tested positive.
“Not one of them went to the hospital, that’s how strong these vaccines are, and that’s how you can make a difference right now.”
The plea, Shea’s second in as many months, was a clear call to action after the department previously defended its low vaccination rate, saying nearly 11,000 members who contracted the virus “statistically have a far lower likelihood of re-contracting the disease.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has repeatedly urged those who have contracted COVID to still get vaccinated, which experts have said provides greater protection from the virus.
The CDC said last month those who have not been inoculated are more than twice as likely to get reinfected compared to those who got the jab.
The country’s largest police force has struggled to motivate its members to get the vaccine over the last nine months despite losing more than 60 employees to the deadly bug — including four in just the past few weeks.
City officials have tried to increase the rate by mandating masks for unvaccinated members at almost all times on duty and requiring weekly testing.
At first, police brass put the responsibility on the unvaccinated to get tested on their own time but later rolled back the stricter policy after the unions pushed back.
Police sources have provided varying accounts on the on-the-job testing since it started two weeks ago, depending on how close their commands were to the eight testing centers.
“It’s a clusterf–k,” one source said. “The sites that are open are overbooked and understaffed.”
Others said the process was seamless with everyone following the rules.
At least one cop who refused to be tested was sent home, according to a source. That officer was also allowed to take saved up comp time, the source added, contrary to the mayor’s executive order that says employees who refuse to follow the vaccine-or-test mandate will not be paid.
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