No shot? No check.
That’s the consequence Department of Education staffers have been told would happen should they not get at least one dose of the COVID-19 by this Friday, Oct. 1. Any staffer who isn’t vaccinated by that point would go on unpaid leave, and Mayor Bill de Blasio said no one should be shocked by the news.
“This is not exactly like there wasn’t prior notice,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio Wednesday. “This is something that’s been built up to for weeks and weeks and weeks after months and months of voluntary efforts.”
After weeks of promoting vaccinations among school staffers and students, de Blasio issued a vaccine mandate for all DOE employees. Under the mandate, all DOE staffers had to get at least the first shot of a COVID-19 vaccine by Sept. 27.
And after the federal judge temporarily blocked the mandate, a federal three-person panel lifted the temporary injunction placed on the order earlier this week.
In response, de Blasio pushed the deadline in which DOE staffers have to get the first dose of the vaccine and submit proof of vaccination to 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 1. If a teacher does not submit their proof of vaccination by that time a substitute will be put in their place until they get vaccinated.
¨Any day they are not vaccinated, they´re not getting paid for,¨ said de Blasio. ¨But hopefully if someone sees the light on Saturday or Sunday, they get vaccinated, they call in, then we´ll make that adjustment right away.¨
As of Wednesday, 89% of all DOE employees, 92% of teachers, and 97% of public school principals have gotten at last one dose of the vaccine.
