New York City teachers will be required to be vaccinated by the time school reopens in September, or be tested weekly, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday.

The city is grappling with rising infections due to the delta variant, stalling vaccination rates, and a rapidly closing window of time to get teachers and eligible students vaccinated against COVID before classes are set to resume fully in-person on Sept. 13.

The mandate applies to all city workers, placing New York City at the forefront among large American cities. It comes on the heels of ramped up efforts to get young people vaccinated at summer school sites, and to encourage more adults to get their shot. Last week, city officials issued a similar directive that staff must be vaccinated or tested regularly at city-run hospitals and health clinics.

“This is about our recovery. This is about what we need to do to bring back New York City. This is about keeping people safe,” de Blasio said at a press conference. “September is the pivot point of the recovery.”

The push to boost vaccination rates comes as de Blasio has promised to reopen schools in the fall only for in-person instruction, with no option to learn remotely. At the same time, the more transmissible delta variant is spreading quickly, largely among the unvaccinated, threatening to cause major disruptions to the third school year in a row. As of Sunday, there were 127 classroom closures out of 13,000 across summer school sites, city data show.

Read the full article about NYC mandating COVID vaccines for teachers by Christina Veiga at Chalkbeat.