De Blasio’s vaccine mandate under scrutiny  

With the number of omicron cases rising, New York’s Mayor Bill de Blasio announced this week that all private-sector employees have to be vaccinated by December 27. Critics, however, believe the mandate will not last long.

The mandate that affects over 184,000 businesses goes into effect on December 27, yet de Blasio leaves office four days later. New York City’s mayor-elect, Eric Adams, promised to revisit some of de Blasio’s mandates once he takes office.

“We need to revisit how we are going to address the vaccine mandates. Now, I stated I did not want to Monday-morning-quarterback the mayor. This is his time to be the man, he has to make the decisions,” said Adams on an MSNBC interview in November.

“We are successful in it and that is why we can revisit,” said Adams during an interview with CNN about the mandates. Nearly 90 percent of adults have received at least one dose in the Big Apple and Covid-19 cases remain mostly under control.

De Blasio’s mandate also expands on the city’s current COVID-19 requirements for restaurants, gyms and other indoor activities. Starting on December 14, children 5 to 11 will also need to show proof of at least one dose to enter establishments. Those 12 and older will need to show proof of two vaccination doses starting on December 27.

Adams, however, has expressed support for the mandate’s vaccination requirement to visit restaurants, movie theaters and other indoor activities.

“New York City’s not going to change their rule,” Mr. Adams said.

Even without the mandate, most business owners already require their employees to be vaccinated, according to interviews with business owners published by The New York Times. Some of the ones that do not, require weekly testing.  

“If you want to increase business, you need to have everybody vaccinated,” said one business owner.

“The vaccine has proven to be our biggest line of defense that allows us to safely coexist and move forward without the loss of life and livelihood,” said Scott Rechler, chief executive of RXR Realty, in an interview.  “We mandated it for our teams at all of our development sites back in September for that reason. Initially, there were some people that were against it, but they ultimately came around.”

Other critics of the mandate are skeptical about how the city officials plan to monitor compliance with the mandate. De Blasio has not responded when asked about the mandate’s enforcement.

In November, the Biden administration also tried to pass a mandate requiring all private companies with more than 100 employees to be fully vaccinated by January 4. However, a federal appeals court halted the implementation of the rule.