Indoor vax rules will now apply to kids, too

Kids will soon get carded at New York City restaurants and movie theaters — for proof that they have been vaccinated against COVID-19, Mayor de Blasio said on Monday.

“Vaccination works and vaccine mandates work,” de Blasio said in a remote press briefing from City Hall.

He said he was taking the “very bold, aggressive action” in response to the lockdown in Germany and other restrictions returning across the globe with the spread of the new Omicron variant — even though the city has seen only seven cases of the mutant strain and has some of the nation’s lowest rates of COVID-19 infection and hospitalization.

Starting Dec. 14, children ages 5 to 11 will have to show proof of at least one vaccine dose to eat out, see a show, go to a movie, visit a fitness facility or attend other indoor entertainment venues.

Kids over 12 must have two doses by Dec. 27 unless they received the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

De Blasio first launched the Key to NYC vaccine mandate for adults at all public indoor venues in August.

The new mandate also requires kids over 5 to be vaccinated to attend “highrisk” extracurricular activities like band, sports, orchestra and dance in schools. The policy drew quick criticism. Andrew Rigie, head of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, said that while “public health and safety is paramount,” the new mandate poses “additional challenges for an already beleaguered restaurant industry in need of tourism support and revenues this holiday season.”

Rigie added that families planning to visit the city “may not be able to meet the vaccination requirements for children or themselves in time, and children aged 5-11 across the globe aren’t universally authorized to get vaccinated.”

Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli (R-SI) said the mayor was “playing a sick game of political posturing in his quixotic run for governor, but to lump kids into the mandate is a new low.”

Over 127,000 New Yorkers ages 5 to 11 are inoculated against COVID-19, or 19 percent of that age group.

“That’s good . . . but it’s not enough,” de Blasio said.