COVID-19 vaccine mandate for public school
teachers is not off the table, mayor says
TIMESLEDGER | Q 24 NS.COM | AUG. 20 - AUG. 26, 2021
As of now, New York City
is requiring all city employees,
including teachers,
be vaccinated before
students’ return to classrooms
on Sept. 13 or undergo
weekly testing.
But critics argue the
city’s current policy for
teachers does not do
enough to assuage fears
about the coronavirus’
delta variant among parents
and colleagues. On
Monday, de Blasio reported
1,637 new cases of the
virus based on a sevenday
rolling average and
126 people hospitalized
with possible COVID-19
symptoms.
So far, about 60% of
all public school teachers
have received at least one
dose of a COVID-19 vaccine,
de Blasio said last
month.
Last school year,
public schools largely
did not turn into COVID
19 hotspots but infections
still occurred
in and around classrooms.
As the city continues
to fully flesh out
what health and safety
protocols will look like
in schools this fall, Dr.
Robyn Gershon, professor
of clinical epidemiology
at New York
University’s School of
Global Public Health,
says requiring that
teachers be vaccinated
before being allowed to
return to work would
serve as a safety net.
In particular, Gershon
added, for older educators
or instructors with
underlying health conditions
who might be at
higher risk of getting sick
from the virus and not-yet
vaccine-eligible children.
Currently, only children
12 years old and
up are eligible to get the
Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Out of all public school
children eligible to get the
vaccine, only about 40%
have done so, according
to city officials.
“It’s just an extra layer
of protection,” Gershon
said about a possible vaccine
mandate. She added
that parents and other
teachers should view a
COVID-19 vaccine as just
another addition to the
vaccines public school
students and educators
are required to get.
And even if the risk
of infection is not great,
city officials and school
communities should do
everything in their power
to protect the most vulnerable,
a Queens public
school social worker told
Schneps Media.
“Even if it’s a tiny
number of cases that
we can prevent through
having everyone vaccinated,
we should do
it,” the social worker
said. “Our goal is, after
18 months of chaos, is to
make the school year as
normal and as healthy as
possible.”
BY ALEJANDRA O'CONNELLDOMENECH
Mayor Bill de Blasio
isn’t taking a vaccine
mandate for public
school teachers off the
table just yet.
“We are looking at all
options,” de Blasio said
in response to a Politico
reporter’s question on
whether he was coming
closer to issuing a mandate
to teachers. “Stay
tuned because we’re going
to keep looking at
each and every tool we
need to use when we need
to use it.”
The comment comes
in the wake of Chicago
and Los Angeles imposing
a vaccine mandate
for teachers and other
school-based staff as well
employees at both cities’
education departments.
Ariel Quero, 16, receives a dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
Photo by David Dee Delgado/Reuters
HEALTH
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/NS.COM
