Mayor Requires Proof of Vaccination for Many Indoor Activities

     Mayor de Blasio announced this morning that on Aug. 16, workers and customers in the city will be expected to provide proof of their vaccination status for most indoor events, such as dining at restaurants, working out at gyms, and attending any indoor entertainment.

     Enforcement for this first-in-the-nation vaccination mandate, will begin on Sept. 13, to coincide with the return of children to schools.

     “When someone is vaccinated they can do all the amazing things that are in this city,” the mayor said this morning. “This city is an amazing place full of wonders. If you are vaccinated, you have the key, you can open the door.

     “It is time to see vaccination to living a full and healthy life, and the key to New York City is the NYC pass that shows proof of vaccination.”

     The mayor’s announcement comes in the wake of a resurgence of COVID-19 cases that are caused by the Delta variant that many fear can cause a whole new pandemic that can result in a virus that continues to mutate if most people do not get vaccinated.

     “The Delta variant is different from the COVID from 2020,” said Andy Slavitt, who is the acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. “Now, only give minutes of exposure can affect you [if you are not vaccinated].”

     In particular, Slavitt expressed worry about those who are not vaccinated not because they do not choose to, but because they cannot because of their young age or their immunocompromised status.

     “The groups who cannot be vaccinated must be protected and prioritized,” said Slavitt. “We have to put their needs higher than those who have a choice and are not prioritizing vaccination.”

     “You do not have the right to kill people,” said state Sen. James Sander, Jr. “History will not be kind to those who took a different position [by not vaccinating.] We should have a Vaccination-On-Demand Act. This is not a theoretical conversation.”

     “We have to be very blunt about the fact that the danger is profound,” said Mayor de Blasio, who added that he is adding many more mobile vaccination sites. “The time for voluntary vaccination is over.”

     “The Delta variant is at least twice as contagious as earlier strains of the virus,” added Celine Gounder, MD, an infectious disease physician, who spoke at the mayor’s press conference this morning. “People who have the Delta variant have 1,000 times the amount of virus in their noses and throats than people with regular COVID. It looks like kids can transmit this virus and can get sick.

     “The way out of this is vaccination, which can make COVID like the flu. Vaccines are how we get back to school and work, how we learn to live with COVID, and get back to life as New Yorkers.

     “You cannot put other people’s lives at risk because you refuse to get vaccinated,” said US. Rep. Adriano Espaillat (NY-D).

     Yesterday, the mayor and Dave A. Chokshi, MD, the city’s health commissioner, “strongly urged” both vaccinated and unvaccinated New Yorkers to mask indoors, a mandate to mask was not issued. Instead of emphasizing masks, which were a first line of defense against the virus before the vaccinations were approved, this time around, the mayor and Dr. Chokshi are focusing on vaccination, which the health commissioner said yesterday, “is the closest thing we have to a knockout punch [to COVID.]

     Two weeks ago, the mayor mandated that all hospital workers and clinical staff at the city’s health department and hospitals be given the choice to either vaccinated or provide weekly vaccine tests, and yesterday, the mayor announced that all new hires who work for the city will not be able to start working until they provide proof of vaccination, in the form of a vaccine passport, a vaccination card, the COVID Safe app, or the Excelsior card.

      “If you want to participate in our society fully, you have to get vaccinated," the mayor said. "More than 160 million Americans have gotten vaccinated safely.

     "It is time, and we are going to send that message clearly.”

  “Photographer/Mayoral Photography Office”, as listed at the end of each caption