A large number of New York City residents who haven’t gotten their COVID-19 vaccines yet will soon be required to, according to a new mandate from city mayor Bill de Blasio. He announced the move, which requires employers to implement a vaccine mandate by December 27, on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Monday morning.
The vaccine mandate applies to any in-person employees who work with colleagues, and a negative test can’t be used as a substitute for vaccination, de Blasio said. These employees must have at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose by December 27. “The more universal they are, the more likely employees will say, ‘Okay, it’s time. I’m going to do this.’ Because you can’t jump from one industry to another or one company to another. It’s something that needs to be universal to protect all of us,” he said.
The city has seen an average of 1,975 new coronavirus cases every day for the last week, according to NYC Health. In a press conference later in the day, the mayor explained that a mandate was one of the best steps the city could take to avoid shutting down businesses and events amid growing coronavirus cases. “We need to take very bold action. We’re seeing restrictions starting to come back. We’re seeing shutdowns,” de Blasio said. “We cannot let those restrictions come back. We cannot have shutdowns in New York.”
In addition to a vaccine mandate through employers, the city is requiring proof of vaccination to access indoor dining, fitness, or entertainment venues. Everyone 12 and older must show proof of full vaccination (at least two weeks out from two doses for Pfizer/Moderna or one dose of Johnson & Johnson) starting December 27. Children between ages 5 and 11 must show proof of at least one vaccination by December 14—and they’ll also be restricted from high-risk extracurriculars such as sports, band, and orchestra unless they have proof of at least one dose.
READ RELATED: Families of dementia-stricken rugby and football stars unite in sport charity launch
In September, the Biden administration attempted to implement a similar vaccine mandate, as SELF previously reported. In Biden’s plan, all companies with more than 100 employees had to either confirm that their staff was fully vaccinated or have unvaccinated employees provide a negative COVID-19 test each week. The mandate was supposed to be enacted January 4th, but it was blocked by a federal appeals court in November and is currently suspended, per CNET.
The city isn’t expecting to run into the same trouble. “The commissioner of health has the authority to issue a mandate like this to protect the public health and his authority to do that has been upheld time and again,” said Georgia Pestana, the city’s corporation counsel, during the announcement with de Blasio. “The trouble that the Biden administration has run into in court doesn’t really apply here.”
The mandate comes as eight cases of the omicron variant were identified in New York over the weekend, seven of them in New York City and one on Long Island. “I’m sorry to say that you can expect community spread,” de Blasio said. “We have to assume it’s going to be widespread. We have to assume it’s going to give us a real challenge.”
Source: SELF
