One more shot

When the city required its hundreds of thousands of municipal employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 to protect public health in the midst of a pandemic that had killed thousands of their neighbors over a few short months, most answered unequivocally: of course. That was one of the driving forces upping New York City’s vaccination rates to 88% among adults, a level of inoculation that has saved thousands of lives.

The widespread compliance is not surprising. We are blessed to live in a city that, despite its hard-nosed reputation, is full of people eager to do their part to help each other, including a dedicated and often under-appreciated city workforce. Unfortunately, it’s also unsurprising that in any group of that size, there will be some who put their own ideologies first, and ultimately only 1,500 employees, representing less than 0.5% of the workforce, have been fired for refusing to follow the city’s vaccine mandate.

It was the right decision to fire them, and it is the right decision for Mayor Adams to now offer them a chance to come back — provided they have come around and accepted the need for vaccination. Loss of institutional knowledge in the ranks of the NYPD, the Department of Education and other city agencies is a setback for New Yorkers, and a belated decision to get the jabs is evidence that a returnee has the capacity to reexamine their beliefs and make the decision that’s right for themselves and the city.

For the thousands of employees with pending requests for exemptions or accommodations, officials should make haste to come to decisions that take into account petitioners’ unique circumstances but don’t serve as a get-out-of-the-mandate-free card. In so doing, they should be cognizant that religious leaders around the world have actively supported COVID vaccinations and urged adherents to get them.

We believe that the city has a responsibility to take into account the deeply-held religious beliefs of the people who keep our government running. But our increasingly tribal society notwithstanding, political opinions are not religious beliefs.