New York Vaccine Mandates Paused For Teachers Health Workers
Sept. 15, 2021 — Two judges issued orders on Tuesday to block New York officials from enforcing vaccine requirements for teachers and health care workers.
Laurence Love, a state court judge, issued a temporary restraining order to stop New York Cityâs health department from requiring vaccinations for teachers and education staff, Bloomberg reported.
Hours earlier, U.S. District Court Judge David Hurd temporarily blocked state officials from requiring vaccinations for health care workers who claim the shot violates their religious beliefs.
Love scheduled a hearing for Sept. 22 about requirements for educators. A hearing was set for Sept. 28 to consider whether the pause for health care workers should be extended.
The citywide vaccine mandate for teachers was scheduled to take effect on Sept. 27. Unions representing teachers against the vaccines sued the city in early September to stop the mandate.
The statewide vaccine mandate for health care workers, which was issued Aug. 28, required those at hospitals and nursing homes to receive their first shot by Sept. 27. A group of 17 medical professionals sued New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and other state officials over the mandate.
The medical professionals said the requirement violates their religious beliefs against using cells from aborted fetuses for vaccines, though the COVID-19 vaccines donât contain these types of cells, Bloomberg reported.
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New York City Mandates Covid
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NEW YORK, Aug 23 – New York City will require public school teachers and staff to get vaccinated against COVID-19, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday, part of a push to get more residents inoculated and slow the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.
All 148,000 staff members in the largest U.S. school district must get at least one dose of a vaccine by Sept. 27 as part of the mandate, de Blasio said. In a first for city employees, Department of Education staff will no longer have the option to submit to weekly testing instead.
U.S. educators and parents have been grappling with how to keep schools safe and open as the country battles another coronavirus surge just as students head back to the classroom.
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New York joins Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington state in introducing vaccine mandates for teachers and school staff.
“We want our schools to be extraordinarily safe all year long,”de Blasio told a news conference.
School is set to begin in New York City on Sept. 13. Elsewhere in the country, thousands of children returned to classrooms on Monday.
In Springfield, Virginia, Christy Hudson, 43, said she “breathed a huge sigh of relief” on Monday morning when her son, a high school sophomore, boarded his bus to attend class in person after getting remote instruction all of the last school year.
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Teachers have had more than nine months to get vaccinated, and were given priority in January, following health care workers. Earlier in the summer, de Blasio said that teachers, along with other city employees, would have to be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing.
At the end of August, he announced a vaccine mandate for educators and other city workers, giving them about a month to comply. A few weeks later, he extended the mandate with the same deadline to pre-K and after-school staffers in city-funded programs.
Education department officials did not immediately respond to questions about whether the funding would also be sent to city-funded early childhood education programs.
When it comes to the legal challenge against the citys mandate, a judge on Wednesday said he expected a ruling early next week, and recognized the citys legal authority to move forward with implementing the mandate, lifting a temporary restraining order that could have delayed it.
Some schools may be more affected than others in terms of the number of unvaccinated teachers. Staten Island City Council member Joe Borelli tweeted that some schools in his district have dozens of unvaccinated teachers and implied that families support their decisions.
At the Michael J. Petrides School, a K-12 school on Staten Island mentioned in the tweet as having 80 unvaccinated staffers, at least four classrooms were closed as of Thursday, according to public data.
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The Human Brain As Democracys Infrastructure
To the Editor:
As we consider infrastructure spending, we should look beyond bridges and roads. We might think of the human brain as democracys infrastructure. To protect American democracy, we should create an education system that helps all students transcend ignorance and gullibility.
We must protect America from the fraudulent claims of charismatic charlatans, paranoid conspiracy theorists, science deniers, malignant narcissists, corrupt politicians and authoritarian leaders. Our democracy is fragile! Our planet is threatened! It is time to invest in education at every level.
Ron Ettinger
Arbitrator Oks Some Covid
NEW YORK â A resolution between the city and the union for public school teachers will grant new options for educators who are not vaccinated against COVID-19.
An independent arbitrator announced late Friday that teachers with specific documented medical or religious exemptions must be offered alternative work assignments. The arbitrator also said remote work must be available for vaccinated teachers with suppressed immune systems.
The arbitration calls for unpaid leave with health coverage, or a severance arrangement, for those who refuse to get the shot and do not qualify for an exemption. That unpaid leave would last through September of next year.
Schools Chancellor Meisha Porter commended the swiftness of the decision, saying, âWeâre pleased that the binding Arbitration was issued before the first day of school and we will swiftly implement the terms.â
The teacher vaccine mandate is scheduled to go into effect Sept. 27.
According to the city education department, as of Friday morning at least 74% of department employees have been vaccinated, although the United Federation of Teachers union estimates over 80% of teachers have already been vaccinated.
There will be more than 700 vaccination sites in public schools across the city when classes begin Monday.
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Nyc Requires Vaccination For All School Employees
Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York said every employee of the citys Department of Education must receive at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine by Sept. 27.
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So today, a major announcement to ensure the safety of our schools, of our kids, of all the adults in our schools as well, today the New York City, Department of Health will be issuing an order requiring all staff in the New York City public schools to be vaccinated. This will require that all staff of every kind principals, teachers, custodians, food service, you name it, needs to have at least one dose by Sept. 27, the entire staff, by Sept. 27, at least one dose. And we know this is going to help ensure that everyone is safe. Now, were going to start immediately working with labor unions. I spoke to the leaders of the key unions over the last few days, and were going to start bargaining with them immediately on the impact of this decision and how to ensure we can implement it properly and fairly. Were going to work together. And what a perfect moment for this given the big news today. And were so thrilled the F.D.A. has announced today the full approval of the Pfizer vaccine. This is a game-changing moment. Weve been waiting for this for a long time to have the full approval of the vaccine. We now have it. This helps us move forward and were moving forward with our schools with this new vaccine mandate.
The F.D.A.s approval has already set off a flurry of activity.
Federal Judge Deals Blow To Vaccine Mandate For Nyc Teachers
The worker mandate for the the nations largest school system was set to go into effect Monday.
Teachers rally at a demonstration against Covid-19 vaccination mandates, Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021, in New York. | Mary Altaffer/AP Photo
09/25/2021 12:37 PM EDT
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NEW YORK New York City schools have been temporarily blocked from enforcing a vaccine mandate for its teachers and other workers by a federal appeals judge just days before it was to take effect.
The worker mandate for the the nations largest school system was set to go into effect Monday. But late Friday, a judge for the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a temporary injunction and referred the case to a three-judge panel an an expedited basis.
Department of Education spokesperson Danielle Filson said officials seeking a speedy resolution by the circuit court next week.
Were confident our vaccine mandate will continue to be upheld once all the facts have been presented, because that is the level of protection our students and staff deserve, Filson said in an email.
She said more than 82% of department employees have been vaccinated.
While most school workers have been vaccinated, unions representing New York City principals and teachers warned that could still leave the 1 million-student school system short of as many as 10,000 teachers, along with other staffers, such as cafeteria workers and school police officers.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has resisted calls to delay the mandate.
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If Teachers Get The Vaccine Quickly Can Students Get Back To School
Teachers unions largely support plans to put educators near the front of the line, but given availability and logistics, that might not be enough to open more schools in the spring.
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By Eliza Shapiro and Shawn Hubler
States and cities across the country are moving to put teachers near the front of the line to receive a coronavirus vaccine, in an effort to make it safer to return to classrooms and provide relief to struggling students and weary parents.
In Arizona, where many schools have moved online in recent weeks amid a virus surge, Gov. Doug Ducey teachers would be among the very first people inoculated. Teachers are essential to our state, he said. Utahs governor talked about possibly getting shots to educators this month. And Los Angeles officials urged prioritizing teachers alongside firefighters and prison guards.
But in districts where children have spent much of the fall staring at laptop screens, including some of the nations largest, it may be too early for parents to get their hopes up that public schools will throw open their doors soon, or that students will be back in classrooms full time before next fall.
Our students need to come back to school safely, they wrote. Educators want to welcome them back, and no one should have to risk their health to make this a reality.
Ny Workers Fired For Refusing Vaccine Won’t Get Unemployment Insurance
New York state workers who are fired for refusing to get vaccinated are not eligible for unemployment insurance, Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Saturday – just two days before the deadline for workers to get the jab.
New York City teachers and state health care workers in hospitals and nursing homes have to prove that they received at least their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by Monday.
The only exception to the vaccine mandate is a valid, doctor-approved request for medical accommodation.
The governor made the ramifications clear during Saturday’s announcement of a contingency plan to address potential staffing shortages in hospitals and other health care facilities statewide.
Hochul specifically referred to hospital workers, but New York City is bracing for a similar situation, with about 13 percent of roughly 78,000 teachers are currently not vaccinated, an education department official said on Twitter.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said during a Thursday press conference that ‘thousands and thousands of vaccinated, experienced substitute teachers ready to go’ if unvaccinated teachers don’t show up for work.
Union leaders have called on the mayor to push back the deadline and slammed the band-aid approach of deploying substitutes as ‘irresponsible.’
But the potential drama was temporarily shelved late Friday night after a federal appeals judge blocked New York City schools from enforcing the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
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% Of Nyc Schools Teachers Now Vaccinated After Mandate
Protests continue as 96% of NYC schools teachers vaccinated after mandate
COVID-19 doesn’t discriminate against who gets sick, but some some groups have been hit harder. And they’re the most likely not to have insurance.
A woman was injured when she was pushed into a train arriving at the Times Square-42 St Station Monday morning.
Its Not Just About Giving Teachers Shots
The level of coronavirus spread in the broader community will continue to be a factor in making decisions about ramping up in-person learning in New York City and some research points to the possible risks of doing so while the virus is spreading rapidly. Vaccinating the broader population will be an important ingredient in reducing that risk, experts said.
It is critically important that we dont think of the teachers as an isolated population they are part of overall community, said Wafaa El-Sadr, a professor of epidemiology and medicine at Columbia Universitys Mailman School of Public Health. So the bigger question is about uptake by overall population.
Ensuring the broader public has access to the vaccine may also help persuade families especially those who live in multigenerational households or have relatives at high risk for coronavirus complications to send their children back to campus.
Questions remain whether students should be vaccinated. Children are less likely to experience severe coronavirus symptoms and deaths are rare. For now, the Pfizers coronavirus vaccine is not approved for use in children under 16, and Modernas can only be given to those 18 and older, though trials are underway in people 12 and up. The superintendent of Los Angeles school district, the nations second largest behind New York, indicated that if approved for children, the school system would require students learning in person to receive a coronavirus vaccine.
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Teachers And Other School Workers In The City Have Until Friday To Show They Have Received At Least One Vaccine Shot
A federal appeals court Monday made way for New York Mayor Bill de Blasio to implement a coronavirus vaccine mandate for all school employees, ruling against four educators who had sued to stop it.
The court decision marks a major victory for the nations largest school system, which employs 150,000 people and educates over 1 million students in a city gutted by the coronavirus last year. Unlike most other cities, New Yorks mandate does not allow employees to submit to regular testing as an alternative to getting a vaccine.
The citys mandate would have required all school employees to show proof of at least one shot by midnight Monday. But on Friday, a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit issued an injunction temporarily halting the requirement.
On Monday, a three-judge panel denied the injunction, clearing the path for the mandate to go in to effect.
The New York Times first reported the development.
Despite the ruling, the city said it would give school employees until the end of the day Friday to show proof of vaccination. About 13 percent of all school employees are not vaccinated, including about 9 percent of teachers and 3 percent of principals, school officials say.
On Monday, Fonte said he is dismayed and disappointed by this turn of events.
What Educators Health Officials Unions Say About Hochul’s Covid Plan
In contrast to New York City officials pushing for unvaccinated teachers to lose their jobs, Hochul’s plan to require vaccination or testing for educators has previously been endorsed by one of the nation’s largest teachers’ unions, the National Education Association.
Further, New York State United Teachers, the union representing more than 600,000 educators and school staff in New York, also issued a statement earlier this month voicing support for local efforts to encourage more vaccinations.
The union specifically cited its support for local programs that require that those who are not vaccinated get tested on a regular basis.
But its critical that districts come up with plans to make testing available on-site and at no cost, the union noted.
Hochul’s comments Tuesday did not address how testing would be paid for and provided.
“New York is launching a back to school COVID-19 testing program to make testing for students and staff widely available and convenient,” Hochul said, without providing further details.
On Tuesday, NYSUT President Andy Pallotta said in a statement that Hochul “brings a breath of fresh air to Albany, and she already is taking decisive action to bolster health and safety in our schools.”
Pallotta noted the union supports Hochul’s mask mandate for schools, as well as the move to require “regular” testing of unvaccinated staff.
Education: Schools eager for Hochul to act on masks, vaccines, quarantine and more
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New York’s Covid Vaccine Mandate Takes Effect For School Teachers And Staff
The Associated Press
Ninety-five percent of New York City’s roughly 148,000 public school staffers had received at least one vaccine dose as of Monday morning, according to the mayor. John Minchillo/APhide caption
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Ninety-five percent of New York City’s roughly 148,000 public school staffers had received at least one vaccine dose as of Monday morning, according to the mayor.
NEW YORK A COVID-19 vaccination requirement for teachers and other staff members took effect in New York City’s sprawling public school system Monday in a key test of the employee vaccination mandates now being rolled out across the country.Mayor Bill de Blasio said 95% of the city’s roughly 148,000 public school staffers had received at least one vaccine dose as of Monday morning, including 96% of teachers and 99% of principals.