NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge on Wednesday refused to pause a vaccine mandate set to take effect Friday for the city’s municipal workforce, denying a police union’s request for a temporarily restraining order. Judge Lizette Colon ruled that the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate can take effect as scheduled. She also ordered city officials to appear in court Nov. 12 to defend the requirement against a union lawsuit seeking to have it declared illegal. Also Wednesday, a federal appeals panel presiding in another mandate-related case seemed to be supportive of arguments that a New York state vaccine mandate for health care workers does not violate their Constitutional rights even though the mandate doesn’t provide religious exemptions.
On Thursday, anti-vaccine protesters plan to assemble outside Gracie Mansion, demonstrating against deBlasio’s mandate. City employees have until 5pm on Friday to get vaccinated, or be placed on unpaid leave.
-with the Associated Press
Photo: New York City Police Department Officer Rodney Hierro, right, keeps an eye on pedestrians and vendors along a busy section of Main Street in Flushing, a largely Asian American neighborhood, Tuesday, March 30, 2021, in the Queens borough of New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
