Federal judge temporarily blocks vaccination mandate for New York teachers

Schools in New York City were temporarily barred from enforcing a vaccination warrant for its teachers and other workers by a federal appeals judge just days before it went into effect.

The workers’ mandate for the country’s largest school system was due to go into effect on Monday. But on Friday evening, a judge in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a temporary injunction and referred the case to a panel of three judges on an expedited basis.

Education Department spokeswoman Danielle Filson said officials were seeking an early resolution by the circuit court next week.

“We are confident that our immunization mandate will continue to be met once all the facts have been presented, as this is the level of protection our students and staff deserve,” Filson said in an email.

The New York Post reported that the department sent an email to directors on Saturday morning saying they “should continue to prepare for the possibility of the vaccination mandate going into effect later in the week.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in August that approximately 148,000 school employees are expected to receive at least a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by September 27. The policy covers teachers, as well as other staff, such as guards and cafeteria workers.

This is the first vaccination mandate without a testing option for a large group of employees in the country’s most populous city. And it reflects a similar statewide mandate for hospital and nursing home workers that is due to go into effect on Monday.

As of Friday, 82 percent of the department’s employees had been vaccinated, including 88 percent of teachers.

Even though most school workers have been vaccinated, unions representing New York City principals and teachers have warned that the one-million-student school system could still miss up to 10,000 teachers, as well as other staff.

De Blasio resisted calls to delay the mandate, insisting the city was ready.

“We have everything planned. We have a lot of replacements ready, ”the Democrat said in a radio interview on Friday. “A lot is going to happen by Monday but beyond that we’re ready, even up to, if we need thousands, we have thousands.”