Unvaccinated NYC Workers Give Moving Testimony at City Hall

Problem Codes Addressed and Being Followed Up On

If you were fired or displaced from NYC employment for declining a covid shot, you can email testimony to testimony@council.nyc.gov before noon on Friday 12-22-23

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On December 19 nearly 30 unvaccinated city workers gave moving testimonies in front of City Council telling stories of how their lives were forever changed - even destroyed - by NYC’s vaccine mandate which took away their employment.

My testimony focused on the devastating “Problem Codes” NYC placed on unvaccinated educators. These codes were a “scarlet letter” that prevented the unvaccinated from securing employment, still today. Congress wrote a letter to Chancellor David Banks asking 8 reasonable and rational questions about the Problem Codes, but there has been no response for the past 6 months.

I was able to have a very productive - though brief - conversation with the chairperson of the Labor Committee, Councilwoman Carmen De La Rosa, after the hearing ended. She introduced me to her Chief of Staff, James Burke, and asked me to email him the congressional letter so they can bring it to the attention of Chancellor David Banks. I emailed the letter to Burke this morning. We appreciate De La Rosa’s help in this matter, and we will be watching to see if her office follows through. There are others helping us on this as well, but having a committee chair bring it to the Chancellor’s attention could help to move the process along.

We shall see…

Other City Council members in attendance included Tiffany Caban, Sandy Nurse, Rita Joseph, Erik Bottcher, and Julie Menin. Only De La Rosa was present for the entire hearing.

There was amazing testimony given by nearly 30 unvaccinated NYC workers. Teachers, firefighters, EMT’s, sanitation workers and much more. Many of those who came are old friends and allies of mine, but some were new faces I have not seen before. Three years into this battle it is fantastic to see new people showing up to speak their truth on the record. It is a sign that our movement is still alive, thriving and growing!

NYC for Yourself

Aimee @nycforyourself on Twitter (now X) covered the testimony from start to finish. Below is a link to over 1-hour of footage on YouTube of all the testimonies she recorded, interviews she conducted after the hearing, as well as individual links to specific testimony from people such as Rachel Maniscalco, Garrett Ramirez, myself, as well as a compilation of multiple testimonies. We will add more individual links as people clip and post them, so come back to this Substack for updates in the days ahead.

Interviews after testimony:

Rachel Maniscalco testimony: https://x.com/nycforyourself/status/1737291382828433450?s=20

Rachel Maniscalco - CHD NY clip from City Council video feed: https://x.com/NY_ChildrensHD/status/1737475024833901049?s=20

Rachel Maniscalco tweeted by Dr. Simone Gold (over 200,000 views): https://x.com/drsimonegold/status/1739747216057610588?s=20 (this was also @nycforyourself footage)

Michael Kane testimony: https://x.com/nycforyourself/status/1737323427978002824?s=20

Garrett Ramirez testimony: https://x.com/NY_ChildrensHD/status/1737978093992575014?s=20 also see the footage from @nycforyourself - https://x.com/nycforyourself/status/1737318314567709029?s=20

Audrey Dennis testimony: https://x.com/nyfreedomrally/status/1740115412120146394?s=20

George Garvey testimony: https://x.com/NY_ChildrensHD/status/1737836519082332578?s=20

Danny, Sanitation testimony: https://x.com/NY_ChildrensHD/status/1737612201098375564?s=20

Jack, NYC EMT testimony: https://x.com/nycforyourself/status/1737869879967981829?s=20 - watch City Concil Footage here - https://x.com/nyfreedomrally/status/1739695265504727192?s=20

Compilation of Testimonies on Instagram: