Judge won’t stop vaccine mandate for NYC cops, other workers

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge on Wednesday refused to pause a vaccine mandate set to take effect Friday for the city’s municipal workforce, denying a police union’s request for a temporarily restraining order. Judge Lizette Colon ruled that the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate can take effect as scheduled. She also ordered city officials to appear in court Nov. 12 to defend the requirement against a union lawsuit seeking to have it declared illegal. Also Wednesday, a federal appeals panel presiding in another mandate-related case seemed to be supportive of arguments that a New York state vaccine mandate for health care workers does not violate their Constitutional rights even though the mandate doesn’t provide religious exemptions.