WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11) issued the following statement on September 20 regarding New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ decision to roll back the city’s vaccine mandate for private sector employees and student athletes, but not for law enforcement or city employees:

“While I applaud the Mayor’s decision to lift the arbitrary vaccine mandate for private sector employees and student athletes, it’s a double standard to not apply the same to our cops, firefighters, teachers, and sanitation workers. As President Biden stated on Sunday, the pandemic is over. Many of our city workers gained immunity while working on the front lines during the pandemic, and with safe and effective therapeutics readily available to treat COVID-19, there is no reason to continue mandating the vaccine. Mayor Adams should immediately rehire the city workers who were fired and lift the vaccine mandate on all municipal employees that has led to people losing their livelihoods, labor shortages, and increased response time to crimes and emergencies in progress across our city.”

Congresswoman Malliotakis was among the Members of Congress who filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) in the case that considered the Biden Administration’s top-down OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard that required private employers with over 100 employees to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine or weekly testing. On January 13, 2022, SCOTUS blocked the mandate, requiring OSHA to reverse its policy.

Malliotakis successfully pushed Mayor Adams to reverse the city’s vaccine mandate for students to attend prom. Last month Malliotakis called on the Mayor to lift the city’s vaccine mandate for K-12 students to participate in extracurricular activities and reinstate all city workers who were terminated from their employment over their vaccination status.