Queens Councilwoman Vickie Paladino hosted a large gathering of civil servants in front of the Unisphere in Flushing Meadows Corona Park on Tuesday, March 29, to call upon Mayor Adams to lift the vaccine mandates in their departments and allow them to return to their jobs.
Those in attendance included teachers, sanitation workers, hospital and EMS workers and members of the NYPD, FDNY and MTA, among others.
Paladino stressed the importance of these workers, with many of them having worked throughout the height of the pandemic when most people stayed home.
“These people are the backbone of New York City,” Paladino said, adding that she would love to see each civil servant be able to return to work.
After Mayor Adams announced last week that mandates for entertainers and performers in New York City would be eliminated, many civil servants who were put on unpaid leave or terminated from their jobs for not getting the vaccine expressed frustration with the mayor for not prioritizing them after everything they had done for the city, especially at the height of COVID-19.
