NYC Schools Back On Vaccine-Or-Test Rule As Court Case Looms

NEW YORK CITY — School staff — vaccinated and unvaccinated against COVID-19 alike — returned to buildings Monday with the future of a strict vaccine mandate still in limbo.

A temporary hold by federal judges on the mandate pushed back a predicted "nightmare" staffing scenario this week in which thousands of unvaccinated teachers and other educators couldn't show up to work.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday that schools will operate under the old "vaccine-or-test" rule rather than the mandate requiring 100 percent of staff to be vaccinated. He said he expects a court decision soon.

“We expect to win again, and quickly, this week,” he said.

But even the threat of losing their jobs appears to have motivated many hesitant unvaccinated school staff to get the vaccine.

De Blasio said the city last week saw 7,000 more vaccinations. He said the latest numbers saw 87 percent of all Department of Education employees have received at least one dose of vaccine.

Teachers, by the city's numbers, stood at 90 percent vaccinated, de Blasio said. He noted that the United Federation of Teachers union reckons the level is actually closer to 97 percent — equal to the vaccination rate for principals.

“For everyone, especially for parents and kids, this should be a real sense of relief to see the numbers are already so high,” he said.