Woods-Black said the proof-of-vaccine mandate would help restaurants keep their workers safe.
“COVID is killing us,” she said. “We are being hit especially hard in Harlem, and other black and brown communities are being hit especially hard, because other folks are not getting the vaccine.”
The mayor, however, did not require mask wearing indoors, mandates that are back in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, Washington, D.C., and states like Louisiana.
Andrew Rigie, executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, said in a statement that New York City’s vaccine requirements will be a difficult step, “but ultimately may prove an essential move to protecting public health and ensuring that New York City does not revert to restrictions and shut-down orders that would again absolutely devastate small businesses that have not yet recovered from the pandemic.”