Democratic mayoral candidate Eric Adams called on unvaccinated cops and firefighters Saturday to get the jab and get back to work but refused to say if outgoing Mayor de Blasio should pull the plug on the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for city workers.
“I would encourage my police, my firefighters — we took an oath,” Adams, a former cop, told reporters after attending a get-out-the vote rally at The Q NYC in Midtown. “And we know that New Yorkers are first.”
With dozens of fire companies temporarily out of service Saturday because of massive short-staffing, Adams called on all unvaccinated city workers to push their respective unions to reach an agreement with City Hall.
However, the retired police captain and current Brooklyn borough president refused to say whether he’d continue the mandate if elected mayor.
“What I don’t want to do is add to the tension already in our city,” said Adams during a WINS-AM radio interview earlier Saturday. “We have one mayor, and it is his responsibility to bring everyone over this finish line. And I am not going to be disruptive to that process before Election Day.”
During his appearance at The Q, Adams was joined by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and other high-ranking Democrats while trying to rally LQTBQ New Yorkers to support his candidacy.
“We are going to ensure that our community is going to look at the mental health crisis that’s impacting the LGTBQ community,” he said. “Your story is my story. Our story is the same. It doesn’t matter if you were an African American picking cotton and couldn’t wear the clothing that the cotton was made out of; you’re the same story.”
A day after fracturing an elbow when he was hit by a cab, Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa was in good spirits Saturday and back on the campaign trail — greeting voters in Manhattan and Queens and visiting with some firefighters and cops.
“I have to tell you I’m like a cat who’s got nine lives,” said the famously feline-loving Sliwa, while sporting a sling on his left arm.
Unlike Adams, Sliwa said he’d eliminate the vaccine mandate if elected mayor, adding he plans to rally outside an event on Staten Island Sunday that Gov. Hochul is expected to attend in a bid to get her to overrule de Blasio.
“This mayor . . . wants to crush the life and jeopardize all citizens because of a lack of public safety,” Sliwa said.