Judge Temporarily Blocks New York City Public School Employee Vaccine Mandate

A federal appeals judge has temporarily blocked New York City schools from enforcing a vaccine mandate for 150,00 teachers and staff, Deadline reports.

On Friday, a temporary injunction was granted by a judge for the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals just three days before the mandate was set to go into effect. Now, a three-judge panel is looking at the case.

“We’re confident our vaccine mandate will continue to be upheld once all the facts have been presented, because that is the level of protection our students and staff deserve,” Department of Education spokesperson Danielle Filson wrote in an email, per NPR.

Filson shared that over 82% of department employees have been vaccinated, but unions have warned that the mandate could leave the school system 10,000 teachers short, with cafeteria workers, school officers, and others not coming to school. Schools have been working to replace the teachers to meet the midnight deadline Monday, ABC 7 reports.

“Central staff has thousands of certified educators who could step into different roles, if needed,” Mayor Bill De Blasio said. “So they will be ready. But the reality we are seeing right now is, we think the overwhelming majority of our educators and staff are going to be there on Monday.”