During a press conference on Tuesday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) slammed the State of New York’s threats to fine vaccine distributors and said that threatening to fine people if they move too fast or if they move too slow “doesn’t get anyone anywhere. That just paralyzes people.” De Blasio also stated that healthcare workers need more flexibility and not increased bureaucracy.
De Blasio said, “What we need is the freedom to vaccinate. We need to listen to our healthcare leaders and our healthcare workers who are saying, give us the flexibility to vaccinate more and more people, let us have the ability to do our jobs the right way. Give them the freedom to vaccinate, and they will vaccinate thousands, then tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands, then millions. What they don’t need is to be shamed. What they don’t need is more bureaucracy. What they don’t need is the threat of fines. If the State of New York says, well, you get a million-dollar fine if you move too quickly, and you get a $100,000 fine if you move too slowly, that doesn’t get anyone anywhere. That just paralyzes people. Why don’t we stop talking about fines and start talking about the freedom to vaccinate, letting the professionals do their jobs?”
He later added, “And by the way, there’s a lot of people who want the vaccine. There’s also people who don’t want the vaccine yet, and we need to be aware of that in our plans. And that’s okay. If they don’t want it yet, we’ll get them later. But right now, we want to reach everyone who is ready, willing, and able to get vaccinated.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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