The Absurdity of Police Comparing Vaccine Mandates to Nazi Germany

Law-enforcement officers’ unions are rebelling against the possibility of required vaccinations in a way that reflects their own distorted view of their power in society.

It was after Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced that she would pursue a COVID-19 vaccination mandate for all city employees that the local Fraternal Order of Police president, John Catanzara, finally understood what it was like to be a Jew in Hitler’s Germany.

“We’re in America, G-ddamn it. We don’t want to be forced to do anything. Period,” Catanzara said, as transcribed by the Chicago Sun-Times. “This ain’t Nazi f—ing Germany, [where they say], ‘Step into the f—ing showers. The pills won’t hurt you.’ What the fuck?”

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Police unions all over the country have been rebelling against the possibility of vaccine mandates. In New York City, the largest police union is threatening to sue over a potential vaccine mandate, calling immunization a “personal medical decision.” The national Fraternal Order of Police is “recommending” vaccination but is against mandates, because “you cannot tell people what to do. It’s still an individual and personal choice.”

In a nation where police themselves argue that defiance of their directives can justify fatal force, it is more than a little bizarre to hear police officers analogizing vaccine requirements to Nazi Germany or insisting that the state cannot dictate their behavior. The police are an arm of the state; their job largely consists of using their authority to force people to do things in the name of public safety.

That so many feel this way, even though the coronavirus has killed scores of their fellow officers, is remarkable. It has been the foremost killer of police officers in 2020 and 2021, by the FOP’s own numbers; nearly 600 police officers have died from coronavirus-related complications. By contrast, the FOP has counted about 35 officers killed by gunfire this year. To its credit [lol fuck off why are pig lives more important than real people] the FOP sought early access to the vaccine for police officers, which the federal government granted.