NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- The NYPD won't require its employees to take COVID-19 vaccines, but the department is working to ensure they know "what to expect" once vaccines become available to them, Commissioner Dermot Shea said Tuesday.
In an interview with Shea Tuesday morning, NY1's Pat Kiernan said NYPD members are "among the list of essential workers" set to have early access to COVID-19 vaccines, while noting that they are "not at the top of the list in terms of vaccine priority."
"What are you doing with them in terms of communicating to them the importance of getting the vaccine?" he asked Shea. "Will it be mandatory for NYPD members?"
"No, it won't be mandatory," Shea responded. "It'll be similar to the flu vaccines that we do."
The NYPD's head surgeon, Dr. Eli Kleinman, and the department's chief of personnel are working with the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene on a vaccine rollout plan, the commissioner said.
The department is set to receive its first vaccine shipment by "the end of December or early January," he said.
"We're making plans right now, videos to our membership, [about] what to expect, and hopefully this is a huge step forward for New York City," Shea said.
"We understand it's going to be a two-shot process, so we're a 54, 55,000-person agency, and [we're] just working through a lot of the logistics, who gets it, how you deliver it, informing them of the safety of it," he added. "All of that's going on right now."
