New York City issues sweeping vaccine mandate

All private employers in New York City will have to require their workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19, the mayor announced Monday in the most expansive vaccine mandate of any state or big city in the U.S.

The move by Mayor Bill de Blasio comes as cases are climbing again in the U.S. and the worrisome omicron variant is gaining a toehold in New York and elsewhere around the country.

“We in New York City have decided to use a preemptive strike to really do something bold to stop the further growth of COVID and the dangers it’s causing to all of us,” he told MSNBC.

De Blasio, a Democrat with just weeks left in office as leader of the nation’s largest city, said the mandate will take effect Dec. 27. He said the move is aimed at staving off a spike of infections amid holiday gatherings and as cold weather drives more people indoors, where the virus is more likely to spread.

Vaccine mandates across states and cities vary widely, with some states resisting any mandates and others requiring the shots for government employees or certain sectors that run a particularly high risk, such as health care workers. But no state has announced a broad private-sector mandate like New York City’s, according to the nonpartisan National Academy for State Health Policy.

President Biden sought to impose a similar mandate nationally, applying to businesses with 100 or more workers, but federal courts have put that on hold ahead of a Jan. 4 deadline.

De Blasio said he expects his new mandate to survive any legal challenges. A spokesperson for the mayor said it will apply to roughly 184,000 businesses in the city, which has a population of 8.8 million.