From big Wall Street banks to corner grocery stores, all private employers in New York City will have to require their workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19, the mayor announced on Monday in the most sweeping vaccine mandate of any state or big city in the US.
The move by Mayor Bill de Blasio comes as cases are climbing again in the US and the worrisome but little-understood omicron variant is gaining a toehold in the nation’s largest city 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 said.
De Blasio, a Democrat with just weeks left in office, said the mandate will take effect December 27, with in-person workers needing to provide proof they have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
And they will not be allowed to get out of the requirement by agreeing to regular COVID-19 testing instead.
