Democratic mayoral candidate Eric Adams on Saturday called on unvaccinated officers and firefighters to get the plug and get back to work, but declined to say whether the outgoing mayor de Blasio should pull the plug on the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for city workers.
“I want to encourage my police, my firefighters – we took an oath,” Adams, a former officer, told reporters after attending a walk-out poll at The Q NYC in Midtown. “And we know the New Yorkers are first.”
With dozens of fire companies temporarily out of service Saturday due to a massive shortage of staff, Adams urged all unvaccinated city workers to pressure their respective unions to reach agreement with City Hall.
However, the retired police captain and current president of Brooklyn declined to say whether he would continue the mandate if elected mayor.
“What I do not want to do is increase the tension already in our city,” Adams said during a WINS-AM radio interview earlier Saturday. “We have one mayor, and it is his responsibility to bring everyone across the finish line. And I’m not going to disrupt that process until election day. “
During his appearance on The Q, Adams was joined by Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), City Council Chairman Corey Johnson and other senior Democrats as he tried to rally LQTBQ New Yorkers to support his candidacy.
“We want to ensure that our community will look at the mental health crisis affecting the LGBTQ community,” he said. “Your story is my story. Our story is the same. It does not matter if you were an African-American who picked cotton and could not wear the clothes that the cotton was made of; you are the same story.”
One day after breaking an elbow when he was hit by a taxi, Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa was well on Saturday and back on the campaign track – greeting voters in Manhattan and Queens and visiting some firefighters and officers.
“I have to tell you I’m like a cat that has nine lives,” said the famous cat-lover Sliwa, holding a sling on his left arm.
Unlike Adams, Sliwa said he would remove the vaccine mandate if he was elected mayor, adding that he plans to gather outside an event on Staten Island on Sunday, which Governor Hochul is expected to attend in an attempt to get her to override de Blasio.
“This mayor… Wants to crush life and endanger all citizens due to lack of public safety,” Sliwa said.
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