COVID Vaccine Demand Rises After NYC Mandates

New York City NY

05 August, 2021

1:58 PM

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NEW YORK CITY — Sweeping new coronavirus vaccine mandates drove up demand for doses in New York City after signs of decline, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday. About 90,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were ordered this week, which was marked by the announcement of an upcoming proof of vaccination mandate for certain indoor activities, de Blasio said. That's up from 57,000 before the mandate, he said. "The voluntary phase is over," he said. "It's time to mix mandates into this approach everywhere to fedeat this enemy." The "enemy" is the highly contagious delta variant of coronavirus, de Blasio made clear. The delta variant drove up the city's daily average coronavirus infections from 192 in late June to 1,436 a day as of Thursday, data shows. Hospitalizations are also up, especially among unvaccinated New Yorkers, officials said. Amid the increase in coronavirus cases, vaccinations fell flat and appeared to dip, reaching the lowest levels since February. De Blasio in recent weeks took increasingly strong steps on vaccinations — "climbing the ladder," as he put it. He first set a vaccine-or-testing mandate for public health care workers, then all city employees and, finally, an Aug. 16 proof of vaccination requirement for indoor dining, entertainment and gyms. Other cities, states and even President Joe Biden have followed up with similar measures, he noted. "We are setting the pace on purpose," he said. Vaccinations appear on the rise after the mandates sunk in among New Yorkers. De Blasio, repeating data first reported in the New York Post, said vaccinations rose 41 percent last week. Data shows the daily average of vaccinations during that span climbed modestly to about 17,620 doses.