NEW YORK — All New Yorkers who work in the city’s private sector will have to be vaccinated from Covid-19 under a new measure Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday morning — a “first-in-the-nation” mandate that would take effect four days before he leaves office.
De Blasio said the requirement, set to kick in on Dec.
27, is intended to blunt the threat posed by the new Omicron variant. But he did not say how the city would enforce the rules.“We in New York City have decided to use a preemptive strike, to really do something bold to stop the further growth of Covid and the dangers it’s causing to all of us,” de Blasio said during the brief segment.
The announcement, made on MSNBC’s "Morning Joe," comes as de Blasio looks for ways to boost his dismal approval ratings ahead of a likely gubernatorial run.
De Blasio said he shared his plans with his soon-to-be successor, Eric Adams, last week. In a statement, Adams adviser Evan Thies said: “The mayor-elect will evaluate this mandate and other COVID strategies when he is in office and make determinations based on science, efficacy and the advice of health professionals."
During the last weeks of his campaign, Adams did not vocalize agreement with the penalties attached to de Blasio’s vaccine mandate for municipal workers.
City Hall spokesperson Danielle Filson said the administration would announce details regarding compliance on Dec. 15. Businesses can expect similar financial sanctions to those in place for restaurants, gyms and entertainment venues that do not comply with the city’s existing indoor vaccine mandate: Two warnings before monetary fines, she said.
“We feel like it’s well within our authority to issue this order during a public health crisis,” Filson said when asked about the legal rationale for this sweeping new requirement. De Blasio told POLITICO’s Jonathan Lemire on MSNBC that he is confident the mandate would withstand legal challenges “because it’s universal.”
The city also plans to announce later this morning that, as of Dec. 14, all children between the ages of 5 and 11 — who collectively have a 20 percent vaccination rate — will need proof of having received at least shot before entering restaurants, theaters and gyms, Filson said. That requirement is already in place for those 12 and older. The latter group will need two shots to enter those facilities as of Dec. 27, Filson said.
“We gotta put this Covid era behind us, de Blasio said. “And vaccine mandates, in my experience, are the one thing that really breaks through.”
Last week, he rankled Orthodox Jewish leaders by requiring employees at yeshivas and other religious schools be vaccinated.