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Mayor-elect Eric Adams to Keep Private Sector Vaccine Mandate in Place: “With Focus on Compliance and not Punishment”

Mayor-elect Eric Adams to Keep Private Sector Vaccine Mandate in Place: “With Focus on Compliance and not Punishment”

By Yehudit Garmaise

“The private sector vaccine mandate will stay in effect with a focus on compliance not punishment,” said NYC Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi, MD, who spoke at spoke at the press conference of Mayor-elect Eric Adams, who rolled out his comprehensive plan to continue to fight the war on COVID. 

“We are going to those sites where people are openly failing to comply and ensure our city services are utilized to ensure compliance,” Adams said. “The goal is not to be punitive. The goal is to get our city up and operating, and we believe we are going to create that partnership to get it done.”

While people who are vaccinated may get infected with the Omicron variant, Adams said, “with vaccination and booster shots, your response will be more mild, and you are less likely to be hospitalized and die: vaccination remains our potent weapon against this virus.

“We cannot let down our guards.”

When Adams was asked how he would ensure that his mandates, which he said he will likely increase, are fully enforced, the mayor-elected repeated that his “goal was to be cooperative and not punitive.”

“In the past, we saw a punitive response,” said Adams, who praised outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio in general for his COVID responses, however the mayor-elect emphasized a need for greater and clearer communication with New Yorkers. “We are going to give support, and we are going to communicate. 

“What I have heard throughout the entire pandemic is a lack of proper communication, and I am not going to have that. By using those stakeholders: they will translate the importance of us operating together.”

Adams said that he has already made sure to communicate with the city’s business leaders: large and small, and with the city’s unions.

Dr. Chokshi explained that Adams has charged the incoming team with creating a dedicated unit that works with employers to help to get their staffs vaccinated.

“We know that businesses share our goals of keeping their staffs, their clients safe, and their doors open,” Dr. Chokshi said. “To put it simply:  COVID is bad for business, and vaccination enables not just health, but also a healthy economy.”

Vaccination, the city’s health commissioner said, “is most important public health tool.”

“We have made incredible progress on getting New Yorkers vaccinated: 72% of all new Yorkers are fully vaccinated: reducing their own risk of severe disease and also helping to protect their communities,” Dr. Chokshi said. “However, there is more to be done.

"Vaccination remains particularly effective for preventing severe disease and that includes for the Omicron variant: based on data from South Africa, the UK, and some early laboratory data as well."


“We need to recover and thrive as a city,” Adams said. “We threw $11 trillion at COVID, and don’t have another $11 trillion.

“We need to live with COVID add protect every day New Yorkers [through vaccination and testing.]

“We can’t shut down our city again, and we can’t let it go into economic despair. We must allow our city to function. 

“The day has come when we must learn to be smarter: live with COVID, ensure that we protect everyday New Yorkers, and we will fine those businesses that are recklessly not complying and just refuse to do so."

Adams said he will use "a lighthanded approach for those businesses that are attempting to comply and give them the support that they need.

"That is the partnership we want to create. I don’t want to be heavy-handed and punitive in this approach.

"I think we have to get through this together, and those businesses know: if we shut down, it is going to devastate businesses. The way not to shut down is vaccination and booster shots. Those are our weapons."

Although Mayor-elect Adams is going to keep the private sector vaccine mandate in place, however, did look forward to opportunities that allow the city to end the mandates.

"I would love to get to the day when we don’t have children wearing masks in schools, when we won’t have families needing to show vaccine cards to visit restaurants and other locations," said Adams, who said he will remove mandates when "the science tell us that we can."

Although Adams was optimisitic, he added, "there may come a time when a new variant comes where we have to increase mandates.

"Right now we need to maintain what was put into place for the business community on Dec. 27. If there is a moment when we can change or alter that, we are going to do so based on the science." 

Photo Credit Reuvain Borchardt/Hamodia.com


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