New York City Makes An Order Of Covid-19 Vaccines Or Weekly Tests For All Public Workers

On Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio disclosed that New York City will need all municipal workers to get vaccinated against coronavirus or undergo a weekly test as the Delta variant triggers an uptick in cases in the metropolis.

The order will fully commence from September 13 and will apply to more than 300,000 city personnel, including police officers, fire fighters and teachers.

According to De Blasio during a press conference, “This is about our recovery. This is about keeping people safe”.

The move comes after the mayor’s announcement last week that the city’s 30,000 public hospital workers would need to get vaccinated or face weekly testing from August 2.

This new measure is the most stringent taken so far in the US megacity to boost vaccination rates following a campaign based on voluntary participation and incentives.

In New York, 59 percent of the entire population has received at least one dose of a vaccine against Covid-19 but the speed of injections has reduced.

Controversy is currently building in the United States concerning the steps to be taken to increase vaccination rates against the Delta variant, which accounts for more than 89 percent of US infections, according to estimates.

Several health officials are pushing to make vaccination mandatory, at least for some particular segments of the population.