NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Two local politicians are calling for airline companies to mandate that all passengers provide proof of vaccination in order to fly.
City Council Health Committee Chair Mark Levine acknowledged that COVID-19 does not regularly spread inside airplanes, but said mandating the vaccine to fly can help reduce the spread in other ways.
“People moving around the country are spreading the virus and it is a continual driver of new cases in New York City,” he said.
Levine noted that he is particularly concerned about the upcoming New York City Marathon – which draws tens of thousands of people from all over the world to the five boroughs.
The city councilman noted that many will likely be unvaccinated, bringing the potential for a major surge in cases.
“The estimate is that 20% of the cases that are reported here every day are imported, to use the term, by people who are coming from outside of New York City,” Levine said. “The vast majority of whom have derived here on airplanes.”
He, along with Congressman Ritchie Torres, are putting pressure on airlines and President Joe Biden to issue the mandate for flying.
“If the president is willing and able to mandate vaccination for 100 million workers, why stop there?” said Torres.
He noted that he understands many Americans would be upset over such a mandate, however, he stressed that it is nothing new for this country.
“There is nothing unusual about vaccine mandates,” he said. “It's the historical norm with more than a century of case law behind it.”
A recent survey by the Kaiser Foundation found 41% of respondents said they would “wait and see” if they were required to get the vaccine in order to fly.