New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) said Monday on MSNBC that he was not concerned if teachers balk at his mandatory vaccine mandate for all public school employees because they had “lots of substitute teachers.”
De Blasio said, “I was a public school parent with my kids. I know for parents, it’s all about the health and safety of kids. We need our kids back in the classroom 100%. We need to leave the era of remote behind us. This is the right thing to do to ensure a safe environment. So now our parents will know, and all our employees will know that every single employee in there has been vaccinated, and that’s how we keep this school system safe, and we bring our kids back.”
Guest anchor Aaron Gilchrist said, “Can you tell us why you decided to issue this mandate with no exceptions? There are other places that said vaccine or testing. You said no exceptions to getting vaccinated. What does that mean for people who may have religious objections or medical exceptions?”
De Blasio said, “Obviously something medical confirmed by a doctor, that’s something we’ll look at. It’s not a choice to test as opposed to vaccinating. If someone has a serious medical condition, of course, that is something we work with doctors on to address. We need to increase the race of vaccination much more quickly. We need to do something to ensure that our school system is safer. It just makes so much sense to have a single clear standard. You work in our schools. You got to be vaccinated.”
Gilchrist said, “Do you have any concern and backup plan if you have a lot of teachers who opt out of getting vaccinated?”
De Blasio said, “What we’re finding is as we’ve been implementing mandates, people overwhelmingly comply. I think for months and months, we tried incentives and voluntary, and that was the right thing to do. But human beings respond to mandates, and everyone sees what’s is going on with the Delta variant. I think we’ll have overwhelming compliance. We have lots of substitute teachers that can help us. I think what will happen over the next weeks is people are going to realize, especially with the FDA approval this is just the time to step forward. I’m confident we’ll have the staffing we need to run our schools well.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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