NYC private schools face vaccine mandate

Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday expanded his COVID-19 vaccine requirement for teachers beyond the city’s public schools. Roughly 56,000 employees at 938 private and religious schools must receive at least one shot before Dec. 20. De Blasio issued an order in October requiring all New York City public school employees to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, then followed it up with mandates for other city employees and child care workers.

How will the city enforce the order? City officials haven’t said, but public school teachers who refused to get the shot were placed on unpaid administrative leave. Rabbi David Zwiebel, the chairman of the Committee of NYC Religious and Independent School Officials, in a Thursday letter expressed concern that, while many private school teachers already got vaccinated, those who haven’t will likely leave rather than get the shot, exacerbating shortages. Most of the city’s vaccine mandates have taken effect despite court challenges. The state removed religious exemptions for vaccination requirements during a 2019 measles outbreak, largely among Orthodox Jewish communities.

Dig deeper: Read Steve West’s report in Liberties that explains the legal challenges against vaccine mandates for businesses.