(Headline USA) New York City Democrat Mayor Eric Adams has quietly stopped enforcing the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for private businesses, but refuses to repeal the mandate.
Adams’s administration inherited the vaccine mandate from former Mayor Bill de Blasio, and declined to strike it down despite repeated requests from private business owners. However, Adams has not been fining private businesses that don’t comply with the mandate, according to the New York Times.
“We have been focused on prioritizing education instead of enforcement when it comes to the private sector mandate, which is how we’ve been able to get more than 87 percent of all New Yorkers with their first dose to date,” Adams’s spokesman Fabien Levy said in a statement.
Under the vaccine mandate, businesses that refuse to comply and force their employees to get the jab could face $1,000 fines.
Adams admitted in February that the mandate was ineffective, but said he didn’t want to repeal it because doing so would send a “mixed message.”
“The rule was put in place; to start changing it now would send mixed messages,” he said at the time.
He did, however, change the mandate to hypocritically exempt high-profile athletes and performers.
“Being healthy is not just about being physically healthy, but being economically healthy,” he said after announcing the exemption.
Adams prefaced his announcement by saying: “I’m going to make some tough choices. People are not going to agree with some of them. I must move this city forward.
“Generals lead from the front. I was not elected to be fearful, but to be fearless,” he said.
