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Mayor Mandates Vaccination for Police, Fire, and Sanitation Departments: Effective Friday

Mayor Mandates Vaccination for Police, Fire, and Sanitation Departments: Effective Friday

     Mayor Bill de Blasio today mandated COVID-19 vaccinations for all city workers, who will receive an extra $500 in their paychecks after receiving their first shots at any city-run vaccination site: from today until Friday.

     While vaccination rates at city’s Department of Education and Health + Hospitals stand at 96% and 95%, respectively, only 71% of the city’s 160,500 workers have received one vaccine dose.

     At 5pm on Oct. 29, however, all city employees are required to have proof of at least one dose of the vaccine: or they will be put on unpaid leave.

     Although the city's workers were prioritized for vaccination when vaccines became available, many frontline workers and first responders have refused to get their shots.                                               

     “Of all the groups I can think of, they really are the ones who need to be vaccinated to protect not just themselves, but also their communities and the people they interact with on a daily basis,” Dr. Bob Bollinger, a professor of infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told the NYDailyNews.

      “There is no greater privilege than serving the people of New York City, and that privilege comes with a responsibility to keep yourself and your communities safe,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “As we continue our recovery for all of us, city workers have been a daily inspiration. Now is the time for them to show their city the path out of this pandemic once and for all.”

     The new mandate, which will be formalized today when Dave Chokshi, MD, the city’s health commissioner, signs a Commissioner’s Order that will put the vaccine mandate into effect for city’s entire municipal workforce: including all NYPD, FDNY, and Department of Sanitation employees.

     In additional civilian employees of the Department of Correction (DOC) and uniformed workers who work in healthcare settings are also subject to the mandate.

     Because of an ongoing staffing shortage at Rikers Island, the vaccine mandate for other DOC uniformed members will take effect until Dec. 1.

     Just as the city’s DOE workers were not permitted into their schools’ buildings on Oct. 4, unvaccinated city employees, starting Friday, will be placed on unpaid leave until they show proof of vaccination to their supervisors.

        Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.


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