Wider NYC COVID Vaccine Mandates In Works, Mayor Says

NEW YORK CITY — A new wave of strict coronavirus vaccine mandates could be coming soon for New York City workers, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

De Blasio said Wednesday that recent court victories and the successful rollout of a vaccination-or-unpaid leave rule for educators mean officials have turned attention to potential wider requirements.

Those potential new rules could cover NYPD officers and firefighters, he hinted.

"Now we're going to turn our attention to all the other pieces of the puzzle," he said during his daily briefing. "So that's what we're talking about over the coming days and stay tuned for updates."

NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea, who sat alongside de Blasio, said 68 percent of his workforce is vaccinated — a level far below the 83 percent of city adults who received at lease one dose of vaccine, data shows.

"I would be supportive of a vaccine mandate," Shea said.

City workers outside of hospitals and schools fall under a vaccine-or-weekly COVID-19 testing rule.

De Blasio has repeatedly hinted the city would be "climbing the ladder" of ever-more-strict mandates to get vaccination levels to the point wide swaths of New Yorkers are almost completely protected against COVID-19.

The mandate for public school workers stood as the city's main test of a wide rule giving municipal workers no option but to get a shot, de Blasio said.

Union leaders for teachers, principals and other school workers challenged the mandate in the courts. And, after some modifications and slowdowns, the rule went into place starting Monday.

About 95 percent of all public school workers — and counting — have now received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine, officials said.

"Without deciding yet what our next steps will be, the broad point: the courts have said it is our right as employers to do this in the context of a global pandemic," de Blasio said.

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