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NYC teachers ask Supreme Court to block vaccine mandate

By FOX 5 NY Staff
Updated  October 1, 2021 5:14am EDT
New York City
FOX 5 NY

NYC teachers ask SCOTUS to block vaccine mandate

A group of NYC school teachers is asking the Supreme court to block NYC's vaccination requirement for Department of Education staff before the deadline to have at least one shot on Friday.

NEW YORK - A group of New York City public school teachers is asking the Supreme Court to block the vaccination requirement for Department of Education staff ahead of Friday's looming deadline for educators to provide proof they've had at least one shot. 

The city has given its roughly 148,000 school employees until 5 p.m. Friday to get at least their first vaccine shot or face suspension without pay when schools open on Monday.

An original deadline earlier this week was delayed by a legal challenge. A federal appeals panel decided Monday that the nation's largest school district could go ahead with the mandate.

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In their request, the plaintiffs assert that the Executive Order requiring vaccination threatens the education of thousands of children in the largest public school system in the nation and violates the due process and equal protection rights afforded to all public-school employees. 

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has said he is confident courts will uphold the city's efforts to exclude unvaccinated staff from school buildings, where they might infect co-workers or children too young to get the shots.

The battle over the safety of city classrooms is occurring as the state of New York is sparring in court with opponents of its vaccine mandate for workers at hospitals and nursing homes.

NY Health workers win religious exemption delay to vaccine mandate

An appeals court has temporarily blocked New York State from enforcing its vaccine mandate on healthcare workers who do not want to get the shot due to religious beliefs.

Courts allowed the mandate to go forward, but a federal judge in central New York has temporarily barred employers from enforcing it against people who have religious objections to getting the shots. Only a small slice of health care workers have sought a religious exemption.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan issued an order Thursday that the stay on enforcement against people with religious objections will remain in effect until an appeal is resolved. It scheduled arguments for Oct. 14.

More than 15,000 nursing home patients have died in New York during the pandemic. Health officials have said many of those patients were probably infected by nursing home staff before vaccines became available.

With the Associated Press.