RELATED: 90 Percent of People Hospitalized With Omicron Have This in Common. On Dec. 6, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city would soon be enacting a new, sweeping vaccine mandate that he described as the first of its kind in the U.S., according to The New York Times. The new order will require all private sector employers in New York City to implement a COVID vaccine mandate for their employees by Dec. 27. “Omicron is here, and it looks like it’s very transmissible … The timing is horrible with the winter months,” de Blasio said in a Dec. 6 interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “We in New York City have decided to use a preemptive strike, to really do something bold to stop the further growth of COVID and the dangers it’s causing to all of us.” Public sector workers in New York City were already subject to pre-existing vaccine mandates, but the new measure will apply to around 184,000 more businesses, according to de Blasio. “The more universal [mandates] are, the more likely employees will say, ‘OK, it’s time. I’m going to do this.’ Because you can’t jump from one industry to another or one company to another. It’s something that needs to be universal to protect all of us,” he said.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb RELATED: For more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter. The city is also making some amendments to its existing vaccine mandates. Currently, anyone 12 years or older must show proof of at least one vaccine dose to enter indoor dining and entertainment spaces in the city. This mandate, along with the one in place for city workers, has already resulted in nearly 90 percent of adults in New York City having gotten at least one shot of a COVID vaccine, as reported by The New York Times. But under de Blasio’s new order, the requirement for indoor dining and entertainment spaces will be expanded to children ages 5 to 11 on Dec. 14, since they are now eligible for vaccination. And starting Dec. 27, businesses must start requiring that adults show proof of two doses instead of one. “We’ve been living with this [virus] now for most of two years. We got to put it behind us and vaccine mandates in my experience are the one thing that really breaks through,” de Blasio said. “And we do know this, vaccines every single time, you know, every single time there’s a fear of the vaccine won’t have an impact on a new variant. Well guess what? Every single time the vaccines have worked. That’s a good track record. Let’s lean into it even more.” RELATED: Unvaccinated People Will Be Barred From Doing This, Starting Jan. 13.
