Outgoing Mayor’s Vaccine Mandate Now in Effect for NY Businesses, Indoor Venues

A person rides a bicycle past a mobile COVID-19 vaccine clinic in Manhattan, New York, on Dec. 7, 2021. Andrew Kelly/Reuters

The New York City vaccination mandate for private businesses went into effect on Dec. 27 as the surge in the Omicron variant intensified.

The city’s expanded vaccine mandate, as part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Key to NYC program, is the strictest in the nation. It defines only individuals with at least two doses of a mRNA vaccine or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson to be “fully vaccinated.”