NYC’s COVID vaccine mandates stay in place despite Supreme Court blow to Biden business rule
Keep calm and carry on with the mandates.
New York City’s various coronavirus vaccine mandates will stay in effect despite a Supreme Court ruling blocking President Biden’s immunization requirement for large private businesses, according to Mayor Adams’ administration.
The top court ruled Thursday that the Biden administration had overstepped its legal authority by ordering all companies in the U.S. with more than 100 employees to mandate that their workers be vaccinated or submit to weekly coronavirus tests.
But Jonah Allon, a spokesman for Adams, said the ruling has no bearing on the city’s far stricter business mandate, which does not allow a testing option and covers all private employers, regardless of size. The ruling also does not impact the city’s other mandates, such as the vaccine requirement for indoor dining, according to Allon.
“The Supreme Court’s decision today does not affect the city’s ability to regulate public health,” Allon said.
While saying he was “disappointed” by the Supreme Court’s decision, Biden also noted it does not preclude local governments or private businesses from mandating vaccinations.
“It is now up to states and individual employers to determine whether to make their workplaces as safe as possible for employees, and whether their businesses will be safe for consumers during this pandemic by requiring employees to take the simple and effective step of getting vaccinated,” Biden said in a statement.
The president also affirmed the ruling won’t keep him from using his bully pulpit to push a pro-vaccine message.
“That does not stop me from using my voice as president to advocate for employers to do the right thing to protect Americans’ health and economy,” he said.
While blocking the federal business rule, the conservative-leaning Supreme Court allowed the Biden administration to proceed with a test-or-vaccine mandate for 10.4 million health care workers in the U.S.
“The requirement for health care workers will save lives: The lives of patients who seek care in medical facilities, as well as the lives of doctors, nurses, and others who work there,” Biden said. “We will enforce it.”
The court’s split decisions come as the country continues to battle a surge in COVID-19 infections driven by the extremely contagious omicron variant.
In New York, infections appear to have reached a peak: Less than 17% of all tests conducted statewide in the 24-hour period ending Thursday morning came back positive, a significant drop as compared to the same figure a few weeks ago, according to Health Department data.
Still, COVID-19 death rates in New York have ticked up recently, with 195 residents perishing from the virus in the same time frame, the data showed.
“Even as the rate of new infections continues to move in a promising direction, too many New Yorkers are getting sick, being hospitalized or tragically losing their lives,” Gov. Hochul said Thursday. “We must remain vigilant in our fight against the virus.”
Even though public health experts say the vaccine is the most formidable weapon against COVID-19, inoculation rates remain relatively low on a national level: Less than 63% of the total U.S. population is fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
New York is performing better than the national average, with 72.7% of all residents in the state reported as being fully vaccinated.
