New York City’s controversial mandate that all children entering school must have received a measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination is slowly coming to an end. It was first introduced in September, and has been met with fierce opposition from parents who say the requirement violates their right to choose what is best for their child.
The “new york city vaccine mandate end date” is a highly anticipated event. It is hoped that the mandate will be rolled back soon.
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Wojnarowski, Adrian
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Passan, Jeff
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Sources told ESPN on Wednesday that progress toward further changes to New York City’s private-sector vaccine mandate has given them hope that Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving could be back on the court for home games at the Barclays Center soon, and that New York Yankees and Mets players who have not received the COVID-19 vaccine will be cleared to play at home before Opening Day in April.
According to sources, New York Mayor Eric Adams’ office has been working with health officials on a plan that would affect more people, not just unvaccinated, high-profile professional athletes in the area, and while no final decision has been made, there’s growing hope that the ban on NBA and MLB players attending home games will be lifted soon.
“Basketball, basketball, companies… they have to wait till that layer arrives,” Adams remarked Tuesday, but insiders say a plan is in the works that could see Irving on the floor as soon as next week.
The Yankees will play their first home game on April 7, the NBA play-in round will begin on April 12, and the Mets will play their first home game on April 15.
The Nets, Yankees, and Mets are waiting for the private-employer rule to be repealed, which prevents workers from working in the office – or athletes from playing for their clubs – unless they have been vaccinated against COVID-19. Irving has been unable to compete in games in New York City this season due to the rule, despite his repeated statements that he has no intention of being immunized. Players on road teams who have not been vaccinated have been permitted to play in NBA games in New York, and they may even play in baseball games.
Because MLB has the lowest vaccination rate of the four major American professional sports, the longer the rule is enforced, the more vulnerable the Yankees and Mets become. According to insiders, baseball authorities have collaborated with the mayor’s office and are cautiously hopeful about the mandate’s repeal.
Teams and players are, however, ready for the worst-case scenario. The MLB Players Association outlined the most serious consequences of being an unvaccinated player on either team in a recent memo sent to agents of Yankees and Mets players on the teams’ 40-man rosters and obtained by ESPN: the possibility of being placed on the restricted list, during which they would receive neither salary nor, more importantly, service time.
If the requirement is carried through throughout the season, the consequences might be disastrous for any upcoming free agent. Free agency in baseball is determined by the amount of time spent on a big league roster. Aaron Judge, the Yankees’ star outfielder who avoided queries about his immunization status earlier this spring, is poised to become a free agency after the 2022 season. Judge’s free agency would be postponed for a year if he spent less than 121 days on an active roster for whatever reason.
Baseball players who are already unvaccinated are anticipated to miss their teams’ games against the Toronto Blue Jays, as well as the associated compensation and service, after the league and union decided that Canadian entrance restrictions would prevent them from playing there. This season, the Yankees will play ten games there.
Unvaccinated Yankees and Mets “shall not be authorized to attend NYC Club facilities,” according to the MLBPA message, which includes “the clubhouse, training rooms, weight rooms, hitting cages, and outdoor playing field areas.”
Because the Yankees’ first home game is April 7, the memo said, players who plan to receive the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine would need to do so by Thursday to be eligible to play Opening Day. With the Mets’ home opener not until April 15, the final day for them to receive the J&J shot and still play, according to the memo, is April 1. Players also can take the first shot of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines much closer to Opening Day, with the expectation that they would receive the second dose within 45 days.
On Tuesday, Adams said, “We’re going to do it the correct way.” “We’re going to stick to the facts…. We’ll make the best choice possible. And you’ll never please New Yorkers no matter what you do because there are 8.8 million individuals and 30 million opinions, so you have to go with logic, heart, and science.”
Nick Friedell of ESPN contributed to this article.
The “nyc private sector vaccine mandate” is an issue that has been in the news recently. It is a hope that the New York City will repeal the mandate soon.
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