Listen to this article

On Monday, the Mayor of New York City Bill de Blasio announced new rules that employers in NYC must require COVID-19 vaccinations for their workers. The recent move marks the first-of-its-kind mandate for private-sector employees. Mayor de Blasio said that the vaccine mandate for a private business is designed at preventing a spike in COVID-19 infections during the holiday season and the colder months. De Blasio said, “This is how we put health and safety first by ensuring there is a vaccine mandate that reaches everyone universally in the private sector. We’re going to do this so that every employer is on a level playing field, one universal standard”. Moreover, NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi said Delta cases have been going up in every borough since early November, while the city is monitoring the Omicron variant.

Chokshi said, “Vaccine works and vaccine mandates work, particularly when joined with efforts to build vaccine confidence, provide incentives, and improve access, as we have in New York City. We’ve seen this with our health care workers, school staff, and public employees. Now it’s time for the private sector to step up and follow suit”. De Blasio said the city will release specific rules on 15^th December, before the mandate takes effect on 27^th December 2021. Councilman Mark Levine chairs the city council’s health committee. He said there will be a weekly testing option. Vaccinations are already required for hospital and nursing home workers and city employees including teachers, police officers, and firefighters. However, a vaccination mandate for employees of private and religious schools was also announced last week.

The US Federal Courts have temporarily blocked an attempt by President Joe Biden to do the same nationally for larger companies but the NYC is attempting to impose the mandate on private sector businesses. Mayor De Blasio said he expects the new mandate to survive any legal challenges. A spokesperson for the mayor said the private sector mandate will apply to roughly 184,000 businesses. Point to be noted that current New York City COVID-19 rules also include at least one vaccine dose for indoor restaurant dining, entertainment venues, and fitness centers. De Blasio said the new rule requires two shots for people over 12, and one dose for children aged 5 to 11, who were not covered by the earlier mandate. It is noteworthy that Mayor de Blasio will leave the office at the end of the month. He might seek the Democratic nomination for governor of New York next year because he found himself as a national leader in the fight against COVID-19.