![]() Successful public health policies, however, rest not just on legal authority but also on moral authority – a sense that the policies are fair and just. Moreover, NYC pays for their health insurance. NYC has a vested interest in keeping them healthy for duty to maintain these services and to minimize their risk of transmitting the infection to other employees and to citizens they interact with daily. Unlike athletes and other live performers, NYC government employees perform essential public services. The city's legal defense against these lawsuits will be strong. Within days of the rule being announced, many powerful unions announced they will sue NYC, arguing that employees who were previously fired for refusing to be vaccinated should now get their jobs back and that all vaccine requirements for NYC government employees should be rescinded. In fact, this is exactly what's happening in NYC. The public will rightly note the contradiction in government health experts saying "We're all in this together, and everyone has to do their part" while simultaneously approving rules that exempt millionaire athletes and seemingly accept their unwarranted fears about the safety and efficacy of vaccines. ![]() We have seen that with COVID-19, as vaccination debates at the federal and state levels have led some state legislators to propose removing all childhood vaccine requirements.Ī special exemption for performers similarly undermines trust in public health experts and vaccinations and could lead to a similar backlash in NYC. Immunization experts are always careful about adding vaccines to those commonly accepted for children or healthcare workers, because they are concerned the resulting backlash from those who oppose vaccines will imperil all vaccine requirements. My other concerns are ethical and political. If I were defending NYC - as I have in previous challenges to vaccination mandates for city workers - I would argue that the number of unvaccinated live performers is so small that it does not threaten the city's public health and that NYC has a powerful interest in maintaining a live performance industry. Plaintiffs could argue the government is selectively deciding which businesses to regulate based on those it favors, rather than based on public health, which is the stated rationale for the rule being imposed. (For example, private groups unsuccessfully tried to make this argument after the NYC Health Department imposed a mandatory measles vaccination requirement on people in selected Brooklyn neighborhoods during an outbreak in 2019). Mandating COVID-19 vaccination for NYC-based employees will increase and maintain high levels of adult vaccinationīy carving out an exemption for one group, Mayor Adams runs the risk of having the entire mandate invalidated by a court as "arbitrary and capricious." This is a legal standard applied by judges in deciding when an administrative agency of government has unlawfully exceeded its authority.NYC has the legal authority to require NYC-based employers to vaccinate their employees.Vaccinating adults is the most effective and durable tool to reduce demand on hospitals during surges by preventing COVID-19-related hospitalization and death. ![]()
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