Mayor Still Opposes School Vax Mandate As NYC Hits 51K Kid Doses

New York City NY

12 November, 2021

12:32 PM

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NEW YORK CITY — A coronavirus vaccination mandate for New York City's school children looks unlikely during Mayor Bill de Blasio's last days in office. De Blasio said Friday he wants to see children make up the time they lost when forced outside of classrooms during the pandemic. A vaccine mandate for kids ages 5 and up who are now eligible for shots would get in the way of that, he said. "I still think the best plan is to allow all kids into school regardless," he told WNYC's Brian Lehrer. Children from 5- to 11-years-old this week started to get the two-dose Pfizer vaccine after federal approval. De Blasio said roughly 51,000 kids in that age group have so far received shots. About 17,000 of those shots were inside the city'e elementary schools, he said. "More than we imagined, honestly," he said, acknowledging early problems with long lines and supply. But while de Blasio has aggressively pushed for strict vaccine mandates for indoor dining, city employees and other aspects of life in New York City, he has been much more hesitant to impose a similar rule on school children. Both Gov. Kathy Hochul and mayor-elect Eric Adams have expressed more support for a potential vaccine mandate in schools. Adams previously said an approved COVID-19 vaccine should be mandated for students like inoculations for measles. Hochul, for her part, framed the issue more as a potential necessity to fight the pandemic. "If I start seeing infection rate going up, hospitalizations going up, more children being affected, I will have no choice," she said in October. De Blasio, on the other hand, has argued that children shouldn't effectively be punished for the vaccination decisions made by their parents. But his time in office is down to weeks. For now, he just reiterated that he doesn't see a school mandate as a pressing need. "If down the line we see a particular challenge, you know we can discuss any and all options, but that's how I'd handle it right now," he told Lehrer.