New York City to Enact Private Sector Vaccine Mandate

Everyone who works in the city must be vaccinated by the end of the month.

Everyone who works in the city must be vaccinated by the end of the month.

Today, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that all private employers operating within the city must require their employees to be vaccinated by December 27. As COVID cases rise and the Omicron variant proliferates, de Blasio says that enacting a mandate now is the best course of action to prevent widespread shutdowns and heavier restrictions.

“The more universal they are, the more likely employees will say okay, it’s time. I’m going to do this. Because you can’t jump from one industry to another or one company to another. It’s something that needs to be universal to protect all of us,” De Blasio said.

“We need to take very bold action. We’re seeing restrictions starting to come back. We’re seeing shutdowns,” de Blasio added. “We can not let those restrictions come back. We can not have shutdowns in New York.”

De Blasio is fairly certain that this new mandate will hold up in a legal capacity in the event anyone attempts to strike it down in court. “Our health commissioner has put a series of mandates in place. They have won in court, state court, federal court every single time. And it’s because they’re universal and consistent. And they’re about protecting the public right now from a clear and present danger,” De Blasio said.