By Jennifer Peltz - The Associated Press
All New York City public school teachers and other educational staff
will need to be vaccinated against the coronavirus,
local authorities announced Monday as the nation's largest school system prepares for a return to school in September. .
The mayor, Bill de Blasio, had previously indicated that there would be the possibility of circumventing that mandate in exchange for weekly tests for COVID-19, but today he has definitively eliminated that option.
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About 148,000 educational employees and contractors working in schools
will thus have to receive at least a first dose of vaccine before Sept. 27, according to the mayor's announcement.
"We want our schools to be extraordinarily safe,
" De Blasio said.
The local head of the school system, Meisha Ross Porter, called the policy "another layer of protection for our children," which includes her own daughter, who studies in the public education system.
Authorities
have not said what the penalty will be for refusing, or if there will be exemptions.
The prerequisite to be vaccinated or tested established unpaid suspensions for workers who did not comply.
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Unions representing school employees said they needed even more information and would enter into negotiations on the matter.
Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, said his priority was
"keeping our children safe and schools open,"
but provisions for medical exceptions and other details "should be negotiated" and, "if necessary, resolved by means of arbitration ".
Robert Troeller, president of the trustees union, said he was concerned that the city would announce that demand without negotiation.
About 60% of its members have at least one dose, he said, but some have avoided immunization
because "they are totally against it
.
"
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At least
63% of all school employees have already been vaccinated
, not including those who were able to do so outside of town.
The new requirement was announced after federal regulators gave full approval to Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, one of three available in the United States.
All are already licensed for emergency use, but officials hope that full approval will increase public confidence in the vaccines.
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Classes are scheduled to begin on September 13 for the nearly one million students who attend the city's public schools.
Recently, New York City began requiring
proof of vaccination to enter restaurants, gyms and many other public places
, a pioneering policy in the country that other cities have also implemented.
And last week, New York State announced that nursing home and hospital workers would need to get vaccinated.
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Vaccine mandates for teachers are rare in the United States, although Washington state requires teachers to be vaccinated or face termination.
Vaccination requirements or periodic testing are more common
and have been implemented in cities like Los Angeles and Chicago, which, after New York, are the two largest school districts in the country.
A new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Public Affairs Research Center found that roughly
six in 10 of the nation's citizens say that students and teachers should be required to wear face masks while in school
, and that teachers and Eligible students must also be required to get vaccinated. But Democrats and Republicans differ widely on these issues, the formal poll shows.