Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Appears Live on MSNBC with Aaron Gilchrist

August 23, 2021

Aaron Gilchrist: Also today, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announcing all of the city's public school employees must receive at least one dose of the vaccine by September 27th. No exceptions. Joining me now by phone is New York City's Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio. Mr. Mayor, we appreciate your time today. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you, Aaron. Good to be with you.  

Gilchrist: You're a little less than a month away from schools opening. Talk about what pushed you to make this decision right now. 

Mayor: Aaron, look, I was a public school parent with my kids. I know for parents, it's all about the health and safety of their kids. We need our kids back in the classroom 100 percent. We need to leave the era of remote behind. And this is the right thing to do to ensure a safe environment. So now our parents will know, and all our employees will know, that every single employee in there has been vaccinated. And that's how we keep this school system safe, and we bring our kids back. 

Gilchrist: Can you tell us why you decided to issue this mandate with no exceptions? There are other places that have said vaccine or testing. You said no exceptions to getting vaccinated. What does that mean for people who may have religious objections or medical exceptions? 

Mayor: Aaron, obviously, something medical confirmed by a doctor, that's something we'll look at. And when I say no exceptions, it's what we're – what you just referred to, it's not a choice to test, for example, as opposed to vaccinate, you've got to get vaccinated. If someone has a serious medical condition, of course, that's something we'll work with doctors on to address. But what we found is we needed to increase the rate of vaccination much more quickly. We needed to do something to ensure that our school system was even safer. And it just makes so much sense to have a single clear standard. If you're going to work in our schools, you got to be vaccinated. We'll work with the labor unions that represent teachers and administrators and custodians, food service. We'll work with all those unions on how to do it the best way, but it will happen, and it will happen, activated on September 27th.  

Gilchrist: And some of the unions have told our NBC station in New York that they were concerned that there weren't negotiations before you made this announcement. What happens, though, if a teacher does refuse to comply with this mandate, will you be firing teachers? 

Mayor: Aaron, we've always said to all the unions, we're going to start negotiations this week on issues like that. Now, up to now, the message has been, vaccinate or test? And we've been clear if someone refused to do that they could be suspended. In terms of this new rule, we're going to work through the penalties. There will clearly be consequences if someone doesn't comply, unquestionably. But our goal is to get people there. So, we're going to figure out the best way to convince people that this is the right time to do it. The president is right. We now have that FDA approval on Pfizer. That's a game changer. It's the right time for all adults who work with our kids to get vaccinated, period. This is just – this is such a clear moment. If you want to help our kids, you want to protect our kids, do the right thing, get vaccinated. 

Gilchrist: Do you have any concern and any sort of a backup plan if you have a lot of teachers who opt out of getting vaccinated and you have staff – school buildings that are not able to function fully because people are not going to be in classrooms, or you won't have custodial staffs that are making sure the buildings are clean and safe? Do you have a backup plan if you have significant numbers of people who don't want to go along with this plan? 

Mayor: [Inaudible] more mandates. We're finding the people overwhelmingly comply. I think for, you know, months and months, we tried incentives and voluntary, and that was the right thing to do. But human beings respond to mandates, and everyone sees what's going on with the Delta variant. I think we're going to have overwhelming compliance. If there's any issues, we're quite confident about having plenty of backup capacity, lots of substitute teachers and others who could help us. But I really think what's going to happen over these next weeks is people are going to realize, especially with this FDA approval, that this is just the time to step forward. And we're confident we'll have the staffing we need to run our schools well. 

Gilchrist: Mr. Mayor, before I let you go, I just want to ask, today is Governor Andrew Cuomo's last day in office. Can you talk a little bit about what you hope to see from the incoming governor, Kathy Hochul, as she gets ready to take office? 

Mayor: Aaron, we're seeing it already. She's a grounded human being who, you know, wants to communicate, wants to work together. It's not this whole painful history we had of everything was a political machination or backstabbing. It's a breath of fresh air. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow when I'll be working with a governor who, you know, just wants to work together. And I really believe that's who she is.  

Gilchrist: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Mr. Mayor, we appreciate your time today.  

Mayor: Thank you, Aaron.  

###