NEW YORK — New York City’s mayor and chief education official announced that schools would waive the COVID-19 vaccine requirement to attend prom, known as prom.
Although proof of vaccination is no longer needed to dance this year, officials encourage students in attendance to wear a mask.
“I am thrilled that starting this year, each of our young people will have the opportunity to celebrate all of their hard work with a prom and graduation, regardless of immunization status,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement. .
The decision to drop the requirement for students was made in consultation with the New York City Department of Health, Adams and Schools Chancellor David Banks said.
Monday’s announcement follows a previous policy change that similarly dropped the vaccination requirement for students attending graduation. Guests attending the end-of-the-year ceremony will still need to be vaccinated to enter school buildings.
“Graduation and prom are such momentous occasions in the lives of our young people, which is why I am so excited that, thanks to the hard work of our school communities, we have reached a point where we can take this next step with security”. Banks said Monday.
The rate of transmission of COVID-19 in New York City increased 20% in the last week and almost 90% in the last month, to the same levels as at the end of January.
The city already raised its alert level to “medium” last week, and on Thursday, Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan told CNN that all options could be on the table, including the return of a mask mandate, if things continue to get worse.
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