Security officers at NYS-run health care centers file suit over COVID-19 vaccine mandate
New York NY Sept 25 2021 A group of security officers at state-run health care facilities has filed the latest suit challenging mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 — citing the potential for long-term side effects from getting the shots.
The 10 security officers who work at the SUNY Downstate Hospital in Brooklyn, the SUNY Stony Brook hospital on Long Island and the state Veterans Home in northern Westchester County also say they should have the option of getting regularly tested for the coronavirus instead of being vaccinated, as teachers do.
Their suit, filed Wednesday in Syracuse federal court, alleges violations of their 14th Amendment rights to equal protection under the law, to refuse unwanted medical treatment and to due process.
It seeks court orders barring enforcement of the vaccine mandate which is set to take effect Monday and protecting them from disciplinary action if they don’t meet the deadline.
It also comes amid a pending court battle over whether workers in hospitals and nursing homes should be able to claim a religious exemption to avoid getting vaccinated.
The suit names as defendants Gov. Kathy Hochul, the state of New York, state Health Commissioner Howard Zucker, the state Health Department and the state Public Health and Planning Council.
The security officers are all members of the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, which is funding the court challenge and sent a message to its 20,000 members saying that the union “will not stand idly by as the State attempts to trample over our members’ rights.”
The message, obtained by The Post, also called the vaccine mandate “a slap in the face to our members who were hailed as heroes just a few short months ago, and now the State has cast them aside.”
Union lawyer Dennis Vacco, a former state attorney, said, “At the end of the day if the mandate was similar to the requirement imposed on educators, which is: get vaccines or get tested regularly, I don’t think we would have a claim.”
“We don’t want our members or these plaintiffs to be forced to give up their rights,” he said.
The suit cites “recent research” that suggests getting vaccinated “presents a heightened risk of adverse side effects to those who have previously contracted and recovered from COVID-19.”
“Given that the vaccines have been administered for less than two years, it is impossible to determine and identify and identify potential side effects that will develop over time,” court papers say.
The suit also alleges that the defendants “irrationally assume that Plaintiffs, who work in a hospital setting that is inherently designed and regulated to prevent the spread of disease, present a greater risk of contracting and spreading COVID-19 than students and teachers attending public schools within the State of New York.”
