New York City employees protest vaccine mandate ahead of deadline
NEW YORK (PIX11) — Municipal employees in New York City take their last stand against a vaccine mandate Monday, marching over the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall in protest of the deadline just days away.
All city workers must have their first shot of the COVID vaccine by 5 p.m. Friday if they want to come to work the morning of November 1. Any city workers who do not comply with the mandate will be placed on unpaid leave, and there is no testing option.
Pushback against the vaccine mandate appeared to grow over the weekend as hundreds marched up to the doors of the Barclays Center on Sunday to show support for Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving, who is currently benched for being unvaccinated. Among Irving’s supporters were two New York City teachers who are out of work for not complying with their mandate that was put in place earlier this month.
On Staten Island, hundreds rallied for police officers, firefighters, and sanitation workers, who say they are not against the shot, but against the mandate.