Headline Roundup • December 6th, 2021
Mayor De Blasio Announces New York City Vaccine Mandate for Private Businesses
Summary from the AllSides News Team
In-person private sector workers in New York City will be required to get at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by Dec. 27, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday.
De Blasio called the move a “preemptive strike” against the pandemic amid colder winter weather, upcoming holiday gatherings and the new Omicron variant. The local mandate comes as the Biden administration’s various federal vaccine requirements face judicial roadblocks and adamant Republican opposition. By Monday, 89.2% of adults in New York City had received at least one vaccine dose. A spokesman for Eric Adams, who will succeed de Blasio in January, said Adams would “evaluate this mandate and other Covid strategies when he is in office.”
Coverage was widespread across the spectrum on Monday. Some outlets across the spectrum used sensationalist language like subjective qualifying adjectives; The New York Times (Lean Left) described the mandate as “aggressive,” and the New York Post (Lean Right) said de Blasio “sprang” the mandate on businesses.
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NYC Mayor
Mayor Bill de Blasio sprang a COVID-19 vaccine mandate on all private businesses in New York City on Monday — drawing immediate rebuke from trade groups, New York office workers and some fellow elected officials who said the backbone of the Big Apple was “blindsided” by the stunning move.
De Blasio, whose mayoralty ends at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, labeled making vaccines compulsory for private businesses a “pre-emptive strike” against an expected surge in COVID infections this winter amid the emergence of the Omicron variant.
Halfpoint Images | Moment | Getty Images
New York City will now require employees at private companies to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in an interview with MSNBC early Monday.
The new mandate comes after New York identified eight cases of the omicron variant and the United States once again averages 100,000 new, reported cases of the virus every day. It will cover about 184,000 businesses and applies to all in-person employees who work in an office with others.
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a sweeping coronavirus vaccine mandate for all private employers in New York City on Monday morning to combat the spread of the Omicron variant.
Mr. de Blasio said the aggressive measure, which takes effect Dec. 27 and which he described as the first of its kind in the nation, was needed as a “pre-emptive strike” to stall another wave of coronavirus cases and help reduce transmission during the winter months and holiday gatherings.
“Omicron is here, and it looks like it’s very transmissible,” he said...
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