Coronavirus: NYC families will get paid time off to have kids vaccinated – silive.com

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. Families around the five boroughs will have access to paid time off to get their kids coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines after the City Council passed legislation Tuesday.

Parents and legal guardians will have four hours of paid leave for each vaccine injection for each of their children, or to care for kids who experience side effects from the injections.

Employers will have the opportunity to ask for documentary proof of kids vaccinations, and the bills primary sponsor, outgoing Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson (D-the Bronx), said it allows families the best opportunity to get their kids vaccinated.

As we continue the fight against COVID-19 in our city, it is important that we continue to encourage all New Yorkers to get vaccinated and to ensure that every New Yorker, regardless of their age, has equitable access to potentially life-saving medicine, Gibson, who will become the Bronx Borough President next year, said. Healthcare and access to medicine is a fundamental right.

The new leave qualifications will become the citys Earned Safe and Sick Time Act, many parts of which took effect in response to the coronavirus

For newly-minted City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli (R-South Shore), the latest addition to paid leave marks another hit to businesses around the five boroughs.

This is a paid sick leave on top of the already crushing anti-small business paid sick leave law we already have, he said.

Outgoing City Councilmembers Steve Matteo (R-Mid-Island) and Debi Rose (D-North Shore) voted against and in favor of the bill, respectively. Matteo, who did not respond to a request for comment, preceded Borelli as the City Council Minority Leader.

Rose said that she voted for the legislation, in part, because kids need to be accompanied by a parent or guardian to get their vaccination.

It would be counterproductive to expect families to sacrifice wages to protect their children from Covid-19 or care for them should they experience side effects from the inoculation. We must incentivize not penalize, she said. This is simply common-sense legislation.

In addition to its support in the City Council, Mayor Bill de Blasio had also pushed the legislation as the latest way to encourage vaccinations around the five boroughs.

Shortly after the Food and Drug Administration gave emergency use authorization for kids 5 to 11 years old to be vaccinated, de Blasio extended that leave to city workers.

We want to make it easy. We want to make it conducive. We want to say to parents, whatever it takes, were going to help you do it, he said Nov. 8. This is something parents deserve. You shouldnt have to choose between the paycheck and a healthier family.

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Coronavirus: NYC families will get paid time off to have kids vaccinated - silive.com