NYCHA staffer’s bizarre anti-vax email
A New York City Housing Authority staffer on Wednesday blasted out a wild email chain laden with debunked COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy theories to agency honchos and dozens of reporters.
The 63-year-old associate staff analyst at NYCHA’s lower Manhattan headquarters — whose name the Daily News is withholding — sent the missive in response to a Sept. 10 internal memo from agency Chairman Greg Russ and Chief Operating Officer Vito Mustaciuolo about coronavirus guidelines for returning to work in person.
According to Mayor de Blasio’s city workforce mandate, all municipal workers must get vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to weekly testing.
“Any mandate of these pharmas is the same as locking the door on the Twin Towers on 9/11 and keeping the people inside to die in 9/11,” reads a portion of the staffer’s email.
“Any mandate of these toxic pharma treatments is putting people in the cattle cars to the concentration camps and upping the count of the Holocaust.”
The staffer, who works in financial reporting for the Housing Authority, told The News they didn’t care about being disciplined over the email blast because scientists are trying to “kill” people with coronavirus vaccines.
“I knew I had to do this,” the staffer said of the emails. “Maybe my senior management, maybe they will turn around and not mandate this anymore after this.”
“I sent that email, and I weighed that in my mind they could fire me, but it is utterly essential that these things need to be utterly stopped,” the staffer added.
Rochel Goldblatt, a spokeswoman for NYCHA, condemned the email, and said action would be taken against the staffer. She did not outline what that action would be.
“The message shared by this NYCHA employee is unacceptable and does not at all reflect the position and values of the Authority,” Goldblatt said. “NYCHA does not support or approve of the reprehensible comparisons to the horrifying and tragic events throughout history cited in the email.
“NYCHA, like all New York City agencies, follows all verifiable health information from federal, state and local health departments and we encourage residents and staff to get vaccinated.”
“The COVID vaccines are safe and approved by the [Food and Drug Administration] for all ages 12 and above. NYCHA is taking the appropriate administrative steps to address this matter,” she added.
Tragically, Lt. Stephen Shyti, a veteran Manhattan court officer who also was opposed to taking the vaccine or other protective measures, recently died of COVID-19 after spending two weeks on a ventilator. His friends and co-workers said he did not wear a mask to work.
In August, the director-general of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said educating people about the safeness of the vaccine and exposing disinformation is as essential as enforcing health measures like mask-wearing and access to the vaccines themselves.