Judge temporarily blocks NYC school vaccine mandate
New York City has been temporarily blocked from enforcing a vaccine mandate for public school employees, days before the policy was set to go into effect.
A federal appeals court judge granted a temporary injunction Friday and referred the case to a three-judge federal panel for review on an expedited basis, court records show. A hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday, two days after the deadline to submit proof of vaccination.
Several municipal unions sued the city earlier this month after Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the mandate, which required that all public school employees to get at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by Monday or be placed on unpaid leave.
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The city had asked for a quick resolution and in a letter to the court argued that the injunction "threatens the [Department of Education]'s safe resumption of full school operations for the City’s nearly one million students" as well as "upsets the reliance interests of parents and caregivers ... who need clear and sound safety protocols when they send their children to public schools."
The temporary injunction remains in effect pending the outcome of the hearing.
Over 82% of public school employees have been vaccinated, the NYC Department of Education said. The city's teachers and principals unions had warned that thousands of school employees might not be able to return to schools on Tuesday if the mandate was not delayed.
-ABC News' Aaron Katersky