[ad_1]
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — There’s a brand new ultimatum in New York Metropolis.
All metropolis staff have to be vaccinated in opposition to COVID-19, or they’ll be positioned on unpaid go away.
READ MORE: Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone Tests Positive For COVID-19, Experiencing Mild Symptoms
That was the phrase Wednesday from Mayor Bill de Blasio, who mentioned metropolis staff owe it to their households and the individuals they serve to be protected in opposition to the virus.
As CBS2’s Jessica Moore reported, the mandate represents the strictest within the nation, and applies to roughly 160,000 staff who haven’t but been required to get the shot.
COVID VACCINE
“It’s a mandate now for all metropolis companies, all metropolis staff. It’s time for everybody to get vaccinated. Our public staff are going to guide us out of the COVID period,” de Blasio mentioned.
De Blasio made the rounds on cable information Wednesday morning, pushing the broadest vaccine mandate but for all municipal staff, together with police, firefighters and EMS.
The mayor mentioned roughly 46,000 metropolis staff are nonetheless unvaccinated.
WATCH: Mayor Invoice de Blasio Broadcasts Vaccine Mandate For All Municipal Staff
“We’re right here to maintain you secure so you possibly can maintain everybody round you secure. We’d like you to maintain individuals within the workforce secure and the individuals you encounter — the residents of this metropolis — secure,” de Blasio mentioned.
As of Tuesday evening, the general NYPD vaccination charge is 71%. The FDNY says solely 60% of its uniformed workforce, together with firefighters and EMS staff, are vaccinated. Similar goes for sanitation staff, solely 60% of whom are vaccinated.
The brand new mandate doesn’t embrace a testing choice, and means all staff should get a minimum of one shot by subsequent Friday, Oct. 29, or get sidelined.
“So we are saying vaccinate. Should you select to not, You will have the correct to go on unpaid go away. We’re going to work together with your union to determine what occurs subsequent. However the backside line is we’re not going to pay individuals until they’re vaccinated,” de Blasio mentioned.
CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
Police union boss Patrick Lynch vowed to combat the mandate in courtroom.
“From the start of the de Blasio administration‘s haphazard vaccine rollout, now we have fought to make the vaccine out there to each member who chooses it, whereas additionally defending their proper to make that non-public medical choice in session with their very own physician. Now that the town has moved to unilaterally impose a mandate, we’ll proceed with authorized motion to guard our members’ rights,” Lynch mentioned.
“I don’t just like the mandate. I don’t prefer it in any respect,” mentioned Harry Nespoli, who heads the sanitation union and Municipal Labor Council. “There’s a gaggle on the market … there’s a gaggle in each single metropolis company that simply truthfully feels that, what? I don’t wish to put that in my physique.”
READ MORE: After Long Battle With COVID-19, Rockland County Man Embraces Newfound Love For Painting
“It’s infuriating. It’s disappointing, irritating,” mentioned Oren Barzilary, president of Native 2507, which represents EMTs and paramedics. “1000’s will stroll off from EMS.”
“There’s no ‘one dimension suits all’ on the subject of therapy or wellness,” mentioned Esther Ford, an EMT within the Bronx.
The mayor is providing a $500 incentive to all metropolis staff who get their first dose at a city-run website by subsequent week’s deadline, a transfer that would value the town $23 million.
“Once more, that’s actual cash, however in opposition to the backdrop of an enormous multi-billion greenback effort to combat COVID over these final years, I believe it’s a great funding,” de Blasio mentioned.
He additionally mentioned staff who go on unpaid go away after which determine to get vaccinated will probably be welcomed again into their positions, however won’t obtain the monetary bonus.
Watch Jessica Moore’s report —
Many are combating the mandate, saying they imagine they’ve pure immunity after being contaminated with the virus.
“We’ve realized that over 70% of New York Metropolis firefighters have been sick with COVID within the final 20 months,” mentioned Andrew Ansbro, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Affiliation. “The FDNY has been examined for COVID antibodies for over a yr, and so they refuse to acknowledge that antibodies are efficient in defending members from critical an infection.”
Some medical doctors have cautioned in opposition to that argument, saying we don’t understand how lengthy these antibodies final and the Delta variant is completely different than the virus was a yr in the past.
Nonetheless, whereas union heads are already pledging lawsuits, employment legal professional Helen Rella says the courts will seemingly uphold the mandate.
“Why does the mayor have that authorized authority to say, you have to be vaccinated or you’ll not be paid?” CBS2’s Jessica Layton requested.
“As a result of it is a public security subject and since the mayor is talking on behalf of the town, which successfully is the employer,” Rella mentioned.
The mayor’s hardline stance has the backing of the White Home and a few Metropolis Council members.
“That is one other in a collection of the daring insurance policies that protected New York Metropolis,” Councilman Mark Levine mentioned.
Some correction officers have an additional month to get vaccinated, with the mayor citing the ongoing staffing shortage at Rikers Island. The deadline for these DOC staff is Dec. 1. Solely 51% of correction officers are vaccinated.
CBS2’s John Dias and Jessica Layton contributed to this report.
Source link