NYC Mayor de Blasio Announces Private Sector Employee Vaccine Mandate

NYC Mayor de Blasio Announces Private Sector Employee Vaccine Mandate

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Monday new expansions to the city’s vaccine program. 

In an appearance on Morning Joe, de Blasio outlined the new initiatives will include a vaccine mandate for all private sector workers, vaccine proof for indoor dining, fitness, and entertainment required for children 5-11, and the program now requires two vaccine doses, up from 1. 

“Now we’re taking another step towards the future — a private sector employee mandate,” de Blasio Tweeted Monday morning. “Together we can save lives and move forward.”

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The mandate covers 184,000 businesses and will go into effect on December  27, de Blasio said. 

Everyone 12 and older, workers and customers, will be required to show proof of two vaccine doses by that date, unless they received Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine.

“We’ve got omicron as a new factor, we’ve got the colder weather, which is really going to create additional challenges with the delta variant, we’ve got holiday gatherings,” de Blasio told MSNBC Monday morning. 

“We in New York City have decided to use a preemptive strike to really do something bold to stop the further growth of Covid and the dangers it’s causing to all of us," he added.