A new mandate goes into effect this week, requiring all city workers in New York City to have the Coronavirus vaccine to continue to serve the city. Any worker that does not have at least one dose of the vaccine (or some accommodation request pending) will not be allowed to work or receive a paycheck. This means that NYC, which was already suffering shortages of city workers, is missing even more police officers, firefighters, and other essential city workers.
A surge in vaccination numbers occurred this weekend, where many decided that they could not survive the unpaid leave for an unknown amount of time. However, others made the decision to retire, switch professions, or hope their accommodation request will be approved in a reasonable time.
Fire stations will be closed, and less police and EMTs will be available to civilians. While perhaps this mandate will slow the spread of COVID-19, it is likely to result in higher deaths in other areas. Ambulances will have to travel from other cities and the nearby fire stations might be out of service.
James McCarthy, the president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association says that the workers and the officials need “more time.” This mandate enforcement came too early to process all of the paperwork and exemption requests. Given that some might not have been able to get vaccinated this past weekend, they would also get more time to receive their first dose.
Mayor Bill de Blasio is being blasted by city workers for this mandate. People are questioning why “last year’s heroes are this year’s unemployed,” now that vaccines exist.
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