New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) on Tuesday pressed for vaccine mandates to stem the spread of the coronavirus’ Delta variant.
De Blasio noted the voluntary approach worked early on when the vaccine came out but said now is the time to “put pressure” on people who haven’t been vaccinated yet.
“It’s time for mandates because it’s the only way to protect our people,” de Blasio emphasized.
“We’re going to have to figure out what works. Try things. See what the response is. Keep pushing,” the mayor added. “The idea here is to get everyone vaccinated, and it’s necessary. So what gets us there? Sometimes the voluntary approach works. I think that was true in the first months. We think now saying you have got to get vaccinated — if you don’t, then you’re responsible for testing every single week, which is a lot of responsibility, is going to move a lot of people to vaccination. So, it’s going to be the moment where they say, ‘OK, the hell with it. I’m going to do it.’ But if that’s not enough, I think we have to be ready to climb the ladder more. And I think private sector entities can do some of that right now. Public sector entities need to move as quickly as possible. This DOJ decision is important. I think that will be helpful. We have got to put pressure on this situation evolutionary but fast evolutionary.”
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent
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