Negotiations are underway in Albany to get public school workers vaccinated in New York before the start of the new school year.
Governor Kathy Hochul said Tuesday that she was open to letting faculty and personnel take additional time off to get the vaccine, if it meant getting more of them vaccinated before students head back to school.
“If more time off is needed for people to do this, makes sense to me, they should take the time off,” Hochul said while in Buffalo. “These are all subject to immediate negotiations and we’re having them right now.”
The state Department of Health has mandated universal indoor masking for schools, regardless of vaccine status. Hochul said last week that she’s supportive of school workers and teachers being required to receive the vaccine or face weekly testing.
The logistics of that are complicated.
The New York State United Teachers has been supportive of masking and increased testing for schools, but said it remained opposed to requiring teachers to be vaccinated.
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