New York City Plans Vaccine Mandate for All City Employees

New York City will require all city and state workers to be vaccinated or risk losing their jobs, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Wednesday. Regular testing will not be an option for workers who refuse to get vaccinated, she said.

More than 65 percent of New York City’s nearly 9 million residents are fully vaccinated, well above the national average of 57 percent. But pockets of residents and public employees have resisted getting vaccinated, leading city and state officials to push for mandates.

In July, Mr. de Blasio announced that all city employees would be required to show proof of vaccination or submit to weekly testing.

In August, educators became the first city workers to face a full vaccine mandate. That month, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a vaccine mandate for health care workers in the state.

Today’s sweeping mandate covers New York City’s more than 300,000 public employees — by far the largest municipal work force of any city in the country.

Some labor leaders, representing thousands of workers, have resisted that city mandate.

In late September, Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, said city schools “are not ready for the implementation of the vaccine mandate.”

But on Oct. 1, Mr. de Blasio said 90 percent of the city’s Department of Education staff, including 93 percent of teachers and 98 percent of principals, were vaccinated. “The bottom line is this mandate has worked,” he said during an interview on MSNBC.