New York broadens worker jabs mandate

New York City announced on Monday a vaccine mandate for private-sector workers effective from Dec 27 to combat the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said the measure would apply to about 184,000 businesses. He called it the first of its kind in the United States.

"We in New York City have decided to use a preemptive strike to really do something bold to stop the further growth of COVID," said de Blasio in an interview on MSNBC, where he announced the new mandate. "Omicron is here, and it looks like it's very transmissible. The timing is horrible with the winter months."

The mayor also announced that the rules for dining and entertainment would apply to children from the ages 5 to 11, who must have one dose to enter restaurants and theaters starting Dec 14, and that the requirement for adults would increase from one dose to two starting Dec 27, except for those who had received the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Rapid increase

Almost 6.5 million New York City residents－including 89 percent of adults－have received at least one vaccine dose. But the number of coronavirus cases in the city has increased rapidly in recent weeks.

The seven-day average of daily confirmed and probable infections was 1,975 as of Monday, according to data from the city's health department. That was higher than the average 1,507 cases reported each day over the last 28 days.

New York state said last week it had detected five COVID-19 cases linked to the Omicron variant, four of which were in New York City.

With less than a month left in office, de Blasio said he was confident the new mandate would survive any legal challenges and he noted that past city mandates had been upheld.

The administration of US President Joe Biden has tried to set a federal mandate for companies with more than 100 employees to have their workers vaccinated or submit to weekly testing starting January, but that measure has been blocked in federal courts.

The latest city mandate is slated to take effect just days before Mayor-elect Eric Adams replaces de Blasio. His spokesman Evan Thies said in a statement that Adams would evaluate the measure once he is mayor.

But Kathryn Wylde, president of the prominent business group Partnership for New York City, said the new vaccine mandate could slow return-to-office efforts at a time when New York leaders want more companies to bring workers back.