NEW YORK—New York City may require city workers to get COVID-19 vaccine booster shots, Mayor Eric Adams said Sunday, after the city set a new record for coronavirus cases.
The entire municipal workforce already has had to have the standard vaccinations since November, and the city will “examine the numbers” to decide if a booster mandate is needed for teachers, cops and other workers, Adams said on ABC’s “This Week.”
“That’s our next move and decision,” the new mayor said. “If we feel we have to get to the place of making that mandatory, we’re going to do that, but we’re encouraging them to do it now.”
On Adams’ first day in office on Saturday, he signed an executive order extending his predecessor Bill de Blasio’s “Key to NYC” policies. Those include requirements for people to show proof of vaccination at most indoor settings and a controversial mandate for on-site employees at private businesses to get jabbed.
New York City logged 49,724 positive COVID-19 tests on Friday, according to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office, a new daily record as the omicron variant of the virus continued to prompt an alarming nationwide spike.
Adams, who rode a Citi Bike to ABC’s studio on Sunday, said the city’s response would evolve with changes in the pandemic.
“If we close down our city, it is as dangerous as COVID,” he said. “That’s what our focus must be — so that proper balance of safety, keeping our economy operating is going to allow us to get through that.”
Roughly 4 out of 5 New Yorkers have gotten at least one vaccine shot, according to the city Health Department.
The mayor used blunt language to urge holdouts to get jabbed.
“I say to those who are not vaccinated: stop it,” he said. “It’s time to get vaccinated. It’s time to have the booster shots. You’re endangering yourselves and you’re endangering the public and your family, as well.”
City schools are set to reopen on Monday after the winter break.
“Fear not sending them back,” Adams said, addressing parents. “The stats are clear: the safest place for children is inside the school.”
Adams begins his term as the city is facing a number of daunting challenges from the pandemic to rising crime.
Last year, the Big Apple logged nearly 500 murders for the first time in a decade.
Nevertheless, the mayor has been playing a booster role in public, insisting that “New York is back” at his swearing-in at Times Square after the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Day.
Adams on Sunday compared the current crises to the aftermath of 9/11.
“I could always reflect on Sept. 11, 2001,” he told MSNBC. “People looked at our city and they focused on the 11th. I didn’t. I focused on the 12th. We got up, retailers sold goods, teachers taught, builders built.
“And that’s where we are now. These moments may seem dark … but we’re resilient and we’re going to cycle out of COVID, regrow our economy and ensure that our city is safe.”
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