The city Education Department has granted medical and religious exemptions to 530 school staff members from the COVID-19 vaccine mandate that takes effect Monday, officials said.
Exemption applications were due earlier this week and were reviewed by staff at the DOE’s central offices. Officials said they are still reviewing some applications and may grant additional exemptions.
The agency did not specify how many exemptions were granted for medical reasons and how many were granted for religious reasons — or how many applications were received.
An independent arbitrator who resolved a dispute between the city teachers union and the DOE over the mandate’s fine print outlined the conditions under which exemptions for United Federation of Teachers members should be approved.
The arbitrator stated that full medical exemptions should be granted only when an individual has a “documented contraindication” to the vaccines, such as an allergy. Additionally, the DOE may extend temporary medical exemptions.
Religious exemptions required written statements from clergy and were supposed to be denied if any religious leaders publicly supported the vaccine or if the “objection is personal, political, or philosophical in nature,” according to the arbitrator.
The figures come as teachers’ and school administrators’ unions push to postpone the implementation of the vaccine mandate, citing the fact that only 80% of DOE employees are in compliance.
If the approximately 29,000 DOE employees who have yet to upload proof of vaccination are forced to take unpaid leave as of Tuesday, schools may face severe staffing shortages the following week, they warn.
Legal challenges to the mandate have thus far been unsuccessful.
On Wednesday, a Manhattan Supreme Court judge denied a request from municipal labour unions to halt the implementation of the vaccine mandate.
In a separate case, a federal judge in New York’s Eastern District declined on Friday to block the mandate in response to a lawsuit filed by city teachers.
Source: Daily News
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