NYC Will Mandate COVID Vaccine For Public Health Workers

NEW YORK CITY — The city’s public hospital and health clinic workers soon will face a mandate to get the COVID-19 vaccine, the mayor’s office confirmed.

Mayor Bill de Blasio is poised to announce the requirement, the first of its kind in New York City, the New York Times first reported Tuesday afternoon.

Bill Neidhardt, a mayor’s office spokesperson, confirmed the reporting to Patch. The mayor will announce the policy Wednesday, Neidhardt said.

The news followed a day in which de Blasio vented frustration at the “lies” that cause New Yorkers to still refuse to get vaccinated. He hinted the city’s gentle touch toward encouraging vaccinations could be at an end, especially as the more-contagious Delta variant of coronavirus drives up cases in the city and nation.

"Somehow we're having a national dialogue that has become insane," he said. "We have the solution to the thing that is killing so many people and is now threatening, once again, our ability for people to make a living. Why is this hard? Just go get vaccinated."

"We've got to be blunt about it: you're not getting vaccinated, you're actually causing harm to other people," he said.

The mandate will require health workers in city-run Health + Hospitals facilities and health clinics to get the coronavirus vaccine, or else submit to weekly COVID-19 tests, the Times reported. It likely will take effect in August.