New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ office revealed on Saturday that city officials fired more than 200 additional city employees for refusing to get vaccinated for COVID — bringing the total number of firings up to 1,752 workers.
The mayor’s office told the New York Post those numbers reflect as of July 13.
Six months ago, Adams laid off over 1,500 government employees who refused to comply with the city’s vaccine mandate Feb 11 deadline. Such employees who were let go included 914 in the Department of Education, 36 in the New York Police Department, and 25 others from the city’s fire department.
However, officials did not provide a list of departments where the city cut the additional 200 jobs.
“City workers served on the frontlines during the pandemic, and by getting vaccinated, they are, once again, showing how they are willing to do the right thing to protect themselves and all New Yorkers,” Adams said in a statement earlier this year.
Just after Adams terminated the unvaxxed city staff, he faced backlash from police and fire associations.
NBC New York reported Andrew Ansbro, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York, who once estimated up to 500 firefighters would face the risk of termination due to their refusal to comply with the mandate, called out the mayor for exempting New York City-based professional athletes and performers from the citywide mandate.
“If you’re gonna force people to get vaccinated because the science changes, you also have to acknowledge that you’re allowing people to have exceptions because the science changes, and it’s no longer necessary,” Ansbro said.
Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch told NBC New York that the union has been suing the city over its arbitrary and capricious vaccine mandate.
“New York City police officers were on the street throughout the pandemic, working without adequate PPE and in many cases contracting and recovering from COVID themselves,” Lynch said. “They don’t deserve to be treated like second-class citizens now.”
Last month, Adams offered city workers who were fired due to the mandate to get rehired by the city if they showed proof of receiving one dose of the vaccine by June 30, with plans to get the second shot by Aug 15. However, the number of former employees who took Adams up on his offer remains unknown.
The spokesman reports more than 97 percent of city workers were vaccinated.
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