New York City Mandates COVID Vaccination for All Private Employers

All private employers in New York City must require workers to be vaccinated against Covid-19, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Monday, imposing the most comprehensive vaccine mandate anywhere in the country.

Public sector employers already have to be vaccinated, but the mandate now extends to all private-sector workers, whether they are employed by a big corporation or a small mom-and-pop business.

Effective December 27, the measure applies to roughly 184,000 businesses not covered by previous vaccine mandates. Employees will retain the right to ask for religious or medical exemptions.

According to de Blasio, the vaccine mandate is intended to help prevent a spike in Covid-19 infections during the holiday season and the colder months ahead. Ten cases of the new Covid variant, Omicron, have been found in New York City and surrounding areas.

“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, speaking to MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

Supplementing the mandate covering private employers, Mr de Blasio also announced rules regulating entry to restaurants, bars, and gyms will be strengthened. At the moment, customers must prove they have received at least one dose of the vaccine; now they will have to prove two doses, excepting recipients of the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Additional guidance on the new policy will be issued on 15 December.