Mayor Bill de Blasio insisted Monday that his\u00a0 private-sector COVID-19 vaccine mandate \u00a0will yield few penalties for Big Apple businesses, declaring \u201cwe\u2019re not \u2026<\/b>
\nMayor Bill de Blasio insisted Monday that his private-sector COVID-19 vaccine mandate will yield few penalties for Big Apple businesses, declaring \u201cwe\u2019re not trying to do gotcha\u201d on the first day of the policy taking effect. During a virtual press briefing, the outgoing mayor explained that city inspectors will adopt a teaching-first approach that prompts \u201crare\u201d fines, comparing the strategy to City Hall\u2019s enforcement of the indoor setting vaccine requirement, which produced few fines. \u201cWe will give a penalty if someone flatly refuses but that\u2019s very rare. So our inspectors will be out there energetically but with the goal \u2014educate and correct \u2014 [and] ideally avoid penalties,\u201d he said. While noting businesses should expect inspections, de Blasio stressed that only flagrant, professed rule-breakers will be assessed fines by city workers from the city Department of Health and other agencies. City enforcement of the coronavirus inoculation rule will be carried out with \u201can attitude of let\u2019s make sure things are working for everyone\u2019s health and safety, we\u2019re not trying to do gotcha,\u201d said de Blasio, whose term ends after Friday. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to make sure everything is moving forward,\u201d the mayor said. \u201cIf the inspectors go and a business says, \u2018I absolutely positively refuse?\u2019 Of course they\u2019re going to get a fine.\u201d \u201cIf someone refuses, of course there\u2019s penalties, but very, very few people do, is our experience with the really substantial body of work we already have,\u201d he added, referring to the \u201cKey to NYC\u201d indoor venue proof of inoculation requirement. The controversial regulation, announced Dec.6, specifies that employers \u201cmay not allow any unvaccinated workers to come to their workplace,\u201d according to guidelines released earlier this month. Fines for non-compliant businesses start at $1,000, and rise for repeat offenders, City Hall\u2019s provisions state. Mayor-elect Eric Adams, who takes office Jan 1., has not stated definitively if he will continue enforcement of de Blasio\u2019s policy. De Blasio\u2019s municipal worker vaccine mandate, announced in October, has been in effect since the beginning of November. Meanwhile, de Blasio admitted in response to a question from The Post that some business owners with whom he\u2019s spoken are still unsure about the specifics of the new requirement. \u201cI think, first of all, they have wanted to know how inspections would work, exactly what we\u2019re talking about here and we\u2019ve reassured the goal is to get to a positive outcome,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s been concern about making sure that they understood what was required, how to go about it.\u201d Starting Monday, private employers in the five boroughs Big Apple business owners are required to sign a form that affirms compliance with the mandate, and display it in a \u201cpublic-facing location\u201d at the work location. The one-page form includes the name and address of the business, as well as a date and signature from the business owner attesting, \u201cI affirm that I have read the December 13,2021 Order of the New York City Commissioner of Health requiring vaccination of workers and that my workplace is in compliance with the Order.<\/p>\n