Don't Expect COVID Booster Mandate Until April, Adams Says

NEW YORK CITY — April showers could bring flowers and a new coronavirus vaccine booster mandate in New York City.

Mayor Eric Adams said Monday he's weighing whether to impose a required booster jab for the city's municipal workers.
"We're looking around April," he said on Bloomberg TV. "It's a moving target, it's a formidable opponent, but COVID doesn't realize that New Yorkers are formidable opponent.

"We are going to do an analysis around April based on the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and see if we want to mandate them."
The city is the midst of a massive surge of COVID-19 given fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant. As 2021 closed, the city saw nearly 50,000 new cases in a single day, according to data.

Booster shots have been proven effective, perhaps necessary, to avoid even further spread and reduce severity of infection, experts say.
Former Mayor Bill de Blasio put boosters at the forefront of the city's strategy against omicron — and it appears Adams is following suit, to a point.

Adams said he'll maintain de Blasio's controversial vaccination mandate for private sector employers. He said boosters are necessary to fight the virus, even as he has yet to mandate them for city workers.
"That does not take away from my clear message to New Yorkers: get your booster shots, get vaccinated," he said. "Do an analysis of the chart. People think, 'Well, OK, I have my vaccine. I won't get COVID.' Listen, you may get COVID with the vaccine, but one thing for sure, you're less likely to die and be hospitalized if you are vaccinated and you have a booster shot, particularly for those with co-morbidities and pre-existing conditions."