United States: Justice Orders Apply Covid-19 Vaccine To Teachers And Staff In New York Public Schools | Society

This Monday, September 27 was a key day in New York State and its fight against covid-19. The deadline for teachers in the public system – the largest in the country – to present proof of vaccination of at least one dose, under a warrant issued last month by the city’s mayor, Democrat Bill de Blasio. But the medical or religious reluctance of some teachers, combined with the powerful action of the unions that represent them, delayed and complicated the process.

In a so-called final decision, a three-judge tribunal ruled today that the mandate that requires vaccination to work in New York City public centers, suspended by an appeals court since last Friday, must be applied. That is, the compulsory vaccination of more than 150,000 public school employees will go as planned, or the rebels will face cuts in their payroll. The conviction of the three judges comes a few days before the expected end, ending a judicial soap opera – at the request of teachers’ unions – which has already recorded two postponements by state and federal courts in recent weeks.

The municipal mandate is the strictest prescription to date addressed to a professional group, and its sanction by the last court could open the door to a much broader mandate for all employees of the local or state administration in the weeks to come. to come. De Blasio recalled this Monday that about 97% of center directors and 95% of teachers are vaccinated, while among auxiliary school staff the percentage of vaccination with at least one dose reaches 87%. Some 8,000 employees of the city’s education ministry were vaccinated over the weekend before the impending ultimatum. De Blasio’s mandate is only for adults who work in the centers, since students do not have to be vaccinated to attend classes, unlike cities like Los Angeles, which require it.

The unions have urged Mayor De Blasio to extend the vaccination period, arguing that the centers will not be able to cope with the foreseeable shortage of teachers and staff that can result from strict application of the mandate. A risk which, at another level of the Administration, the State, faces the network of hospitals of New York. Governor Katy Hochul planned this weekend that she would turn to the National Guard – a corps of volunteer reservists – to alleviate the absenteeism of all those health workers who, after today’s deadline , have not been vaccinated. Democrat Hochul has also expressed her intention to summon unemployed, retired or other health workers to replace the tens of thousands of workers who may lose their jobs for not submitting the vaccination certificate on time. In a statement released by her office, the governor raised the possibility of declaring a state of emergency to address the staff shortage and the aforementioned emergency measures to address it.

The mayor of New York said on Monday that he is not worried that the possibility of massive absenteeism will be experienced in the city, where the vaccination rate is high, but it is in the small towns of the state, lagging behind in the vaccination process. and forced to cut services or even postpone scheduled operations due to staff shortages. Meanwhile, hospitals are preparing to lay off tens of thousands of employees who do not comply, for medical reasons (like allergies) or religious objections, with the mandate. This is the case, among others, of the network of hospitals dependent on New York University, which has warned its workers that those who resist the vaccine will be “immediately suspended and awaiting dismissal”. The vaccination mandate for health workers was issued last month by the Ministry of Health.

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