NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — New York City is expanding paid sick leave to municipal workers and contractors so they can get their children vaccinated, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced at a briefing Monday.
The mayor said workers can get up to four extra hours per child for each shot their children would need in order to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
“This is something parents deserve. You shouldn't have to choose between the paycheck and a healthier family,” de Blasio said. “We want to make sure everyone has this right for the time they need to get the kids vaccinated.”
Peter Hatch, commissioner of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, also noted that legislation before the City Council would extend the sick leave to workers in the private sector as well.
“The proposed bill, which we're working to pass with the Council as soon as possible, would add the same four hours… four more hours of sick leave per child up to 18-years-old and per injection,” he said.
“Caregivers can use this time to take their child to get vaccinated, or if the child – to care for the child that they're experiencing side effects,” he added.
If the bill is passed, workers will be able to apply that sick leave retroactively to Nov. 2, when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved the vaccine for children ages 5 to 11.
New York City began offering vaccines to children at all city-run sites last week, and at some schools across the five boroughs on Monday.
While 17,000 young children have since been vaccinated, that was not without some snafus.
According to WCBS 880’s Marla Diamond, demand for the vaccine outpaced supply on the first day of vaccination pop-up sites in schools.
Mayor de Blasio said four sites had a delay in getting vaccines and there were lines at about a dozen schools in three school districts in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
“It is great to see that kind of demand. We got to match it now. We laid in supply and staffing for the amount of demand we expected. If we're seeing more demand, well, that's a good thing, but we got to catch up with it quickly,” the mayor said.
New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi and Health + Hospitals president and CEO Mitch Katz reminded parents that Monday was the first day that the city began offering vaccines at schools, and vowed that the city “will get the vaccine to all of the kids whose parents are supporting it.”
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