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The City is encouraging private businesses to put in place their own vaccine policies after making the private sector vaccine mandate optional.
By Michael V. Cusenza
As Mayor Eric Adams received his own COVID-19 bivalent booster shot on Tuesday, he and New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan announced the launch of a citywide campaign to promote COVID-19 boosters this fall. In the next week, print, television, radio, and digital ads will go live across New York City promoting booster shots. With the recent rollout of bivalent booster shots by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the new campaign will encourage all eligible New Yorkers to get their booster shot for an added layer of protection for themselves and those around them. In addition to promotion of COVID-19 booster shots, the campaign being launched in the next week will promote other annual vaccinations.
Mayor Adams and DOHMH Commissioner Vasan also, Tuesday, announced more flexibility for New York City’s businesses by encouraging private businesses to put in place their own vaccine policies after making the private sector vaccine mandate optional. And as New York City’s students head back to school, the city created more flexibility for parents and encouraged families to ensure their children have their primary and, if eligible, booster shots after making vaccines optional for students who participate in extracurricular activities, including, among other activities, New York City’s Public School Athletic League (PSAL).
“We are launching a new campaign in the next week that encourages all eligible New Yorkers to get their booster shot for an added layer of protection for themselves and those around them,” Adams added. “And with so many tools now more easily accessible to keep New Yorkers safe from COVID-19, the additional flexibility we are announcing for private employers, students, and parents puts the choice back into each of their hands. We urge all New Yorkers to make a plan to get vaccinated if they are eligible, and we are grateful to the millions of New Yorkers who have already stepped up to keep themselves and their community safe.”
Several officials and groups praised Adams’s move.
“After a constructive meeting with our caucus two weeks ago, we are very pleased Mayor Adams has decided to remove COVID vaccine mandates that have been hurting our businesses, hampering our city’s economic recovery and preventing our children from fully participating in sports and after-school activities,” City Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Ozone Park) and the Common Sense Caucus wrote in a statement. “This is a significant step toward correcting the errors and inequitable policies of the previous administration. We will continue engaging with the mayor and his administration to also end the public employee COVID vaccine mandate and bring back City workers who were placed on leave or fired due to their vaccination status, especially now that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have declared that this pandemic is over.”
The Police Benevolent Association echoed the sentiment.
“This announcement is more proof that the vaccine mandate for New York City police officers is arbitrary, capricious and fundamentally irrational,” said PBA President Patrick Lynch.
