New York City’s “Key to NYC” vaccine mandate expanded to children under 12. Children ages five and up now need to prove they’ve received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine to enter most businesses in the city. This restriction includes restaurants, theaters, gyms and more.
The rule also expanded Monday to require anyone over the age of 12 to show proof of a complete two-dose vaccination.
A video circulating on social media Tuesday morning appears to depict an NYPD Strategic Response Group attempting to eject a family from an Applebee’s in Queens Center. The family, which included young children, did not provide proof of vaccination.
What a lovely new world we are living in when you go out for a meal and a squad of police barge in, persecute a little boy then demand to see everyone else’s papers. This is the vax passport world so many are begging for. #NotAboutAVirus #NOVAXPASSPORTS pic.twitter.com/ZQFnybs4ly
— Cyn Clagar (@cynclagar) December 27, 2021
“Anyone five and up must show a vaccine card in order to eat here,” Jose Perez, manager of the Applebee’s in Queens Center, told TimCast. “We have been attacked by protestors and our staff is on edge, and police have been helpful.”
While Perez said he “cannot comment on that incident” seen in the video, he said that “no kids have protested.”
He added: “I am tired of having to answer these questions, people have been calling non-stop and we have work to do here, it is very busy.”
Many parents, locals and tourists alike were shocked to find out that 5- to 11-year-olds can’t get into restaurants in New York City without being vaccinated against the coronavirus.
“We are in New York for another week and it’s going to be a real pain not being allowed to eat at restaurants,” Erik St. Martin, a tourist who was turned away from the Hard Rock Cafe with his seven-year-old daughter, told The New York Post. “We didn’t know about the vaccine mandate for kids when we booked our family holiday months ago.”
On Dec. 6, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that all children 12 and up must be fully vaccinated to enter restaurants, gyms, movie theaters or other entertainment starting on Dec. 27. An additional update now requires the same for children 5-11 years old.
(...) Tim Cast
