On Friday’s broadcast of Caribbean Power Jam Radio’s “The Reset Show,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) defended the city’s coronavirus vaccine mandate for city workers that is being rescinded because “we’re seeing a normalization of COVID,” and stated that the fact that employees said, “I want to do whatever I want. That just wasn’t right.” Adams also said that “there may be another time that we’re going to have to do mandates again because these viruses are not going away.”

Adams stated, [relevant remarks begin around 51:20] “I know what COVID looked like, and I know that if we didn’t have those mandates — I take my hat off to Bill de Blasio. That was a tough call, because you know New Yorkers…no New Yorker wants anyone telling them anything. … That’s just who we are. We don’t want to be mandated. We don’t want anyone to tell us to put on a mask. That’s just who we are. So, that was a cultural shift in our mindset to say, we’re fighting this dangerous virus. I was at the hospitals, seeing trailers of bodies. I saw the nurses and doctors and hospital employees wearing plastic bags and makeshift face masks, putting themselves in harm’s way. I saw the first responders. I was on the ground. Remember, I moved into Borough Hall and dealt with that virus, responding every day on the ground. This was real. If we didn’t have that vaccine and we didn’t have those mandates, we would have lost so many more lives.”

He continued, “And so, those who made the determination that, no, I still want to come into a work environment and I’m not going to be vaccinated, no, I want to still ride the trains. I want to do whatever I want. That just wasn’t right. That wasn’t right. And they made a decision and the law was on our side that said we could mandate. And so they were removed. Now that we’re seeing a normalization of COVID, there may be another time that we’re going to have to do mandates again because these viruses are not going away. We’re dealing with a whole new environment of what we are fighting against, some of these viruses. They made the decision not to be vaccinated. They lost their jobs. We see the need now to lift the mandate, but those who lost their jobs could re-apply for their jobs, but they’ve got to re-apply just like everyone else.”

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