first reported by the New York Post,<\/a> will kick off Wednesday and city employees will get a $500 boost in their paycheck for receiving their first shot at a city-run vaccination site. That incentive will end by the close of business on Oct. 29, the mayor said. By that time, city workers will be required to demonstrate they have at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. Those who don’t meet the deadline will be placed on leave as of Nov. 1 until they can show proof of vaccination.<\/p>\nThe mayor said the city\u2019s efforts have already led more than 70 percent of city workers to get vaccinated, adding that about 46,000 \u2014 out of an estimated workforce of 300,000 \u2014 have still not taken their first shot.<\/p>\n
The city could spend up to $23 million on the $500 incentive that was not offered to school and health workers \u2014 essentially rewarding those workers who have so far elected not to get vaccinated.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce upon a time we had no incentives,\u201d the mayor said. \u201cIn this particular instance, we think the $500 incentive will help get something done for everyone. That\u2019s the whole idea: what\u2019s going to get the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n
The administration maintains that vaccine mandates work; after a limited one took effect, 95 percent of NYC Health + Hospitals workers got their shots, along with 96 percent of DOE staff.<\/p>\n
Vaccinations have lagged in other areas though \u2014 specifically among police and firefighters. Seventy percent of the NYPD and 60 percent of the FDNY were vaccinated as of Tuesday, according to the latest figures from the city. Both agency vaccination rates are below the citywide average of 84 percent.<\/p>\n
The mayor has faced significant pushback from public sector unions including the United Federation of Teachers and District Council 37 over the existing mandates. Unions were already raising objections to the citywide mandate Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n
Harry Nespoli, head of the Municipal Labor Committee \u2014 an umbrella organization of city worker unions \u2014 opposes a citywide vaccine mandate, saying workers came in and did their jobs at the peak of the pandemic, and that the weekly testing is a sufficient alternative. He\u2019s meeting with lawyers Wednesday to file a suit against the de Blasio administration.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re going to negotiate how they\u2019re going to implement this,\u201d Nespoli said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to exercise all our legal powers to not have a mandate and to continue it moving in the right direction with the testing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Police Benevolent Association, a frequent critic of the mayor, also vowed to fight the mandate.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the beginning of the de Blasio administration\u2019s haphazard vaccine rollout, we have fought to make the vaccine available to every member who chooses it, while also protecting their right to make that personal medical decision in consultation with their own doctor,\u201d PBA President Pat Lynch said in a statement. \u201cNow that the city has moved to unilaterally impose a mandate, we will proceed with legal action to protect our members\u2019 rights.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city has already fended off a battery of legal challenges to its vaccine mandate for teachers and school staff \u2014 but federal and state courts have consistently backed the city’s legal right to mandate vaccinations in the interest of public health, provided medical and religious exemptions are accommodated.<\/p>\n
DC37 Executive Director Henry Garrido, who led multiple legal challenges against existing mandates, said in a statement that the mayor\u2019s policy \u201cmust be collectively bargained and we expect City Hall to slow down and sit down with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
One group that will receive an extension on the mandate are uniformed correction officers. The mayor said they will have an extra month to submit to the mandate after thousands stopped coming into work, contributing to an escalating crisis at Rikers Island. As of late August, only 40 percent of those officers were inoculated.<\/p>\n
De Blasio said he’s still not ready to mandate a vaccine for all schoolchildren \u2014 something his likely successor, Eric Adams, has said he’d call for upon FDA approval.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t see it in my term. I respect whatever choice Eric Adams makes but here\u2019s my problem \u2026 75 percent plus of our teenagers are vaccinated, that\u2019s great. But for the 25 percent that are not, it\u2019s not their choice, it\u2019s their parents’ choice. They have to sign that consent,” the mayor, whose term ends Dec. 31, said during a later interview on CNN. “In the future, maybe it could be looked at but for now, I don\u2019t wanna hold if you will the sins of the parents against the children.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mayor said he will begin bargaining with unions right away but maintained the mandate is a crucial tool to continue bringing down transmission of a virus that paralyzed the city for much of 2020 \u2014 and continues to threaten public health and New York\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve gotta realize if we don\u2019t keep vaccination strong, we won\u2019t turn the corner fast enough,” the mayor said in an interview on CNN Wednesday. “We\u2019ll lose tens of thousands more people in this country and I\u2019m saying this to every mayor, every governor, every CEO: it\u2019s time for these mandates, finish this war or we\u2019re gonna have Covid with us way too long.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Source: Politics NEW YORK \u2014 Mayor Bill de Blasio will mandate Covid-19 vaccinations for the entire city workforce he said Wednesday \u2014 the latest in an escalating requirement for city… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":24451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24450"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}