Adams lifts city employee vaccine mandate, says fired workers must reapply for their jobs

Vaccination against COVID-19 will no longer be mandatory for New York City municipal workers beginning this Friday, Feb. 10, but roughly 1,780 former city employees fired for not meeting the mandate will have to reapply for their old positions, instead of being automatically rehired, Mayor Eric Adams announced Monday.

The changes to the city’s vaccine policy are expected to be made official at the next Board of Health meeting on Thursday, according to a release from City Hall.

The mayor’s office said the decision to lift the controversial mandate was reached because it has “served its purpose” with over 96% of the city’s municipal workforce vaccinated against COVID-19 and the availability of more treatments for the illness caused by the virus.

“City workers stepped up tremendously throughout the pandemic,” Adams said. “From our health care frontline workers and first responders who saved lives, to the city employees who kept our streets clean, our schools open, and our streets safe, we owe city workers a debt of gratitude for their service during New York City’s darkest days.”

“With more than 96% of city workers and more than 80% of New Yorkers having received their primary COVID-19 series and more tools readily available to keep us healthy, this is the right moment for this decision,” he added. “I continue to urge every New Yorker to get vaccinated, get boosted, and take the necessary steps to protect themselves and those around them from COVID-19.”

The public sector mandate was implemented by Adams’ predecessor Bill de Blasio over a year ago, in October 2021. The move drew immediate criticism from municipal labor unions like District Council 37, the United Federation of Teachers and the Police Benevolent Association.

The city is also ending the vaccine mandate for employees at nonpublic schools, early childhood and daycare programs. Additionally, visitors to public school buildings will no longer have to show proof they received at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Adams finally ended the public employee vaccine requirement a few months after terminating an equivalent mandate for the city’s private sector workers last September. At that time, Adams didn’t provide a clear reason why he decided to end the mandate for private sector employees then but keep the one for municipal workers in place indefinitely.

“I don’t think anything in general with COVID makes sense and there’s no logical pathway one can do,” the mayor said at the time. “The determination now from our medical team is to remove the private sector mandate and that is where we are and if something’s going to change we’re going to announce it.”

Early last year, Adams enforced the ultimate penalty of de Blasio’s mandate by cutting loose 1,430 city employees who refused to get vaccinated by a Feb. 11, 2022, deadline. He then fired another couple hundred over the next few months, bringing the total to at least 1,780. Many of those fired workers had requested medical or religious accommodations to the requirement.

The mayor’s office said Monday they have processed and issued decisions for all of the pending accommodation appeals.

The City Council Common Sense Caucus, which includes the council’s six Republicans and Democrats Robert Holden (Queens) and Kalman Yegar (Brooklyn), in a statement, praised the mayor for lifting a mandate they saw as unjust.

“During our numerous conversations with this administration and with Mayor Adams himself about ending the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates, we have always asked that they consider the undue harm of these policies and that, ultimately, they follow the science,” they said. “Today’s announcement that the city will be rescinding the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all city employees and for visitors to public schools proves they have done just that.”

“This news will come as an incredible relief to thousands of city workers and their families, and the parents and guardians who have been barred from attending their children’s public school events,” they added.

However, they did ding the mayor for the nearly 2,000 workers they say he “unjustly fired” and said he must do more to right that wrong.

“There is more to be done for those workers who were unjustly fired for making personal medical choices, but this is a tremendous step toward righting the wrongs of the previous administration’s misguided pandemic policies,” they said.