Mayor Bill de Blasio: Times Square NYE Celebration Will Commence ‘Full Strength’ but Only for the Vaccinated

Times Square’s famous New Year’s Eve celebration will commence in “full strength” this year but only for the vaccinated, New York City’s Democrat Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Tuesday.

“Here’s the message. We love New Year’s Eve in Times Square. We want it to be big. We want it to be full of life. We want to be a great New York celebration. Guess what, everyone. A big, strong, full strength celebration — it’s coming back,” de Blasio announced.

“This New Year’s Eve, Times Square everyone, come on down. We’re celebrating,” de Blasio said as others gathered behind him blew celebratory party blowers.

“Yes. We are proud to announce the Times Square, wonderful celebration, Times Square, the ball drop, everything coming back full strength the way we love it,” he said, predicting “hundreds of thousands of people [will be] there to celebrate.”

“We can finally get back together again. It’s going to be amazing. It’s going to be a joy for this city. Now, let’s do it the right way. Let’s do it the safe way,” he continued before announcing that unvaccinated individuals will be barred from the celebration.

“We’ve been working with our great partners in Times Square. We’ve been working with the Department of Health, NYPD, to get this right. So here’s how we’re going to do it,” he said.

“We want to welcome all those hundreds of thousands of folks, but everyone needs to be vaccinated,” he said, explaining that attendees will need to show proof of vaccination and a valid photo ID to join the crowd.

Do that, “and you are in,” he said. “Join the crowd. Join the joy. Join a historic moment as New York City  provides further evidence to the world that we are 100 percent back.”

Last year, coronavirus restrictions in the city prevented the traditional celebration, seeing the ball drop for essentially no in-person witnesses for the first time since 1907.