NYC's Last COVID Vax Mandate Worked, But Fights Loom Over Next

NEW YORK CITY — Roughly 46,000 New York City municipal workers face a stark — and imminent — choice: get a coronavirus vaccine or lose paychecks.

But the looming Oct. 29 mandate could face steeper opposition from NYPD and other city workers whose resistance to rolling up their sleeves hasn't wavered in months.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has expressed confidence he can duplicate the twin successes the city's mandates for health care workers and school staff achieved — vaccination rates for both above 95 percent.

"Our message is simple — get vaccinated, keep with us, keep us moving forward," he said. "Anyone who isn't, will go off payroll onto unpaid leave. We, obviously, have contingencies in place for any gaps that we experience, but our uniformed agency leadership feel very strongly that they will be able to handle any scenario."

Data shows COVID-19 vaccinations overall slowly declined since an indoor proof of vaccination mandate took effect Sept. 13.

But vaccinations did level off, if not tick up, in the days before the school staff mandate took effect Oct. 4, data shows. Vaccinations averaged 23,000 a day during the week heading into the mandate.

They dropped off to 20,000 a day the week following the mandate, according to data. Still, 3,500 previously unvaccinated school staff got their first doses after the mandate, de Blasio said.

The mayor noted concerns about mass non-compliance and drastic staffing shortfalls for schools and hospitals failed to materialize as workers.

"We have a lot of evidence here of how people respond," he said.

But educators and health care workers are different from the NYPD.

Police officers in the city have flouted mask-wearing rules for months. And only 70 percent of NYPD employees are vaccinated, compared to 85 percent of all adults in the city who've received at least one dose of vaccine, data shows.

Early speculation about a police vaccine requirement in the days before de Blasio announced the public worker mandate failed to move the needle much on the NYPD's vaccination rate.

Patrick Lynch, president of the powerful Police Benevolent Association, has vowed to fight the mandate.

"Now that the city has moved to unilaterally impose a mandate, we will proceed with legal action to protect our members’ rights," Lynch said in a statement.

Similar lawsuits against New York City's previous mandates failed and strengthened de Blasio's resolve to press forward. But a high-profile fight between a Chicago police union and Chicago's Mayor Lori Lightfoot over a vaccine reporting requirement — not a full mandate — raises the specter of mass non-compliance and subsequent firings.

If de Blasio's anticipated rush of last-minute vaccinations fails to materialize in the coming week, the city could face thousands of NYPD officers off the job.