FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM AUGUST 26, 2021 • THE QUEENS COURIER 29
City issues vaccine mandate for DOE teachers, staff
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
adomenech@schnepsmedia.com
@AODNewz
All Department of Education
staff will have to get at least one
dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by
Sept. 27, Mayor Bill de Blasio
announced Monday, Aug. 23.
In late July, Mayor de Blasio
announced that all municipal
workers would have to be vaccinated
against COVID-19 by
the start of the school year on
Sept. 13 or undergo weekly testing.
But now, school-based staff
will no longer have the option
to test out.
According to Mayor Bill de
Blasio, who spoke about the
mandate in a press conference
on Staten Island on Monday, the
city’s new mandate will impact
about 1480,000 DOE employees
including teachers, principals,
kitchen workers and custodians.
Th e policy does not apply
to DOE contracted employees
like bus drivers and for educators
and staff working in 3-Ks and
preschools not located in DOE
buildings, according to a department
spokesperson. Employees at
3-Ks and preschools not located
in DOE buildings are still subject
to the mayor’s vax or test policy.
A spokesperson for New
York City’s teacher’s union, the
United Federation of Teachers,
told amNewYork that roughly
80% of all public school teachers
have gotten at least one dose
of a COVID-19 vaccine and 63%
of all DOE employees are vaccinated,
according to Schools
Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter.
It is unclear if the chancellor
meant fully or partially vaccinated.
Th e new mandate will impact
about 148,000 DOE workers,
according to offi cials.
“We know that the mandate
is going to keep everyone
safe,” de Blasio said adding that
his administration would now
begin bargaining with city labor
unions on how to roll out the
mandate. Neither the mayor nor
Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross
Porter expressed worries over
the mandate prompting resignations
among teachers uncomfortable
with receiving the vaccine
.Th
e UFT seems to be on board
with the decision, but potentially
with caveats, with the union’s
president Michael Mulgrew issuing
a statement touting the high
rate of vaccination that already
exists among public school
teachers.
“Our fi rst priority is keeping
our kids safe and the schools
open.Th e city’s teachers have led
the way on this issue, with the
great majority already vaccinated,”
said Mulgrew in a statement.
“While the city is asserting its
legal authority to establish this
mandate, there are many implementation
details, including provisions
for medical exceptions,
that by law must be negotiated
with the UFT and other unions,
and if necessary, resolved by
arbitration.”
Monday’s announcement
means that New York City has
joined the ranks of Chicago
and Los Angeles which have all
recently issued COVID-19 vaccine
mandates for public school
teachers.
Th e policy is the most recent
step by Mayor de Blasio to
ensure the health and safety of
all adults and children returning
to classrooms amid fears over
the coronavirus’s more aggressive
delta variant. “Th ere is just
no doubt about the urgency of
this measure when delta continues
to rage nationally,” said Chair
of the New York City Council
Committee on Health Mark
Levine who joined the mayor
during the press conference via
Zoom. “Even in a city that where
vaccination is as far along as it
is in New York City, delta still
fi nds a way to spread … we have
to push harder to get everyone
the life-saving benefi t of vaccination.”
De Blasio reported Monday
1,688 new cases of the virus
based on a seven-day rolling
average, a hospitalization rate of
1.36% per 100,000 New Yorkers,
and 131 new patients with
potential COVID-19 with about
50 of those patients testing positive
for the virus.
News of the mandate coincides
with the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration’s approval
of the Pfi zer-BioNTech vaccine
for people 16 years of age
and older, which offi cials say
will help encourage unvaccinated
staff ers and vaccine eligible
students to get the inoculation.
Responding to a question from
a reporter, de Blasio noted that
the city does not currently have
plans to issue a vaccine mandate
for public school students 12 and
older who are eligible to get the
vaccine.
“We are going to move heaven
and earth to these next weeks to
get our students 12 years old and
up vaccinated,” de Blasio said.
“We are seeing a great response
from our young people and our
parents and we are going to
make sure we do that with every
tool we’ve got but not through a
mandate.”
Prior to Monday, all COVID-
19 vaccines were approved by
the FDA under an emergency
use authorization (EUA), with
the Pfi zer vaccine being the only
inoculation with an EUA for
children 12 and up.
Th e fi rst day of classes is in
three weeks, which does not
allow for unvaccinated staff ers to
be fully vaccinated by the time
classes start unless they take
the Johnson&Johnson vaccine,
which is a single dose and which
begins to provide protection 15
days aft er being administered.
Most of the unvaccinated will
remain so into the fi rst month of
classes, which means COVID-
19 testing will need to take place
in schools. Last week, the mayor
promised to release details on
the city’s school testing policy —
whether or not schools in neighborhoods
with low vaccination
rates will be required to undergo
testing more frequently — the
week of Monday, Aug. 23, but
has yet to do so.
Dr. Dave Chokshi, commissioner
of the New York City
Department of Health and
Mental Hygiene, did not provide
details on school testing
except that “in many instances”
the department will provide
testing kits to public school
families.
DOE employees will be
required to upload proof of vaccination
into a “vaccine portal”
launched earlier this month by
Sept. 27, offi cials added.
kids & education
Photo via Getty Images
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