There have been massive protests out over the past few weekends in New York City against vaccine mandates. At least one of those massive protests involved teachers protesting against the requirement that they be vaccinated, organized by a group called “Teachers for Choice.”

Thousands came out and marched across the Brooklyn Bridge, also taking up the popular chant we’ve been hearing a lot of over the past few weeks, ‘F**k Joe Biden.’

Warning for graphic language:

More from 9/13/21 the protest against the mandatory shot. Here a few clips I put together. Protest chant " F×CK JOE BIDEN " multiple time , starting in Manhattan, over the Brooklyn Bridge a cross to the Brooklyn peir. #JoeBiden #NYC #wednesdaythought pic.twitter.com/hwM4dbgTFf

— Leeroy Johnson (@LeeroyPress) September 15, 2021

Massive crowd gathers at Foley Square in NYC for a protest against the mandatory shot. Today in NYC the mandatory shot law came in to effect for some businesses.
The chant
" SAVE NY , SAVE NY " #VaccinePassports #NewYorkCity #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/zIUdhzbpVq

— Leeroy Johnson (@LeeroyPress) September 13, 2021

But, now there’s good news for those fighting the mandates.

A federal appeals court just issued a temporary restraining order last night preventing the mandate from being enforced, just days before it was to go into effect on Monday. The requirement was that 148,000 teachers and staff would have to get at least a first dose of COVID vaccine by that date.

Now, a three-judge panel will consider the matter on an expedited basis. This is the first test of the city worker mandates that have been imposed in New York City.

Mayor de Blasio has said that he will pull in a lot of substitutes, if they are unable to enforce the mandate.

From AP:

As of Friday, 82% of department employees have been vaccinated, including 88% of teachers.

Even though most school workers have been vaccinated, unions representing New York City principals and teachers warned that could still leave the 1 million-student school system short of as many as 10,000 teachers, along with other staffers.

De Blasio has resisted calls to delay the mandate, insisting the city was ready.

“We’ve been planning all along. We have a lot of substitutes ready,” the Democrat said in a radio interview on Friday. “A lot is going to happen between now and Monday but beyond that, we are ready, even to the tune of, if we need thousands, we have thousands.”

The unions were not happy and had begged de Blasio to put off the date until the matter could be settled. UFT President Michael Mulgrew  and the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators President Mark Cannizzaro said they were “very, very concerned.”

The employees have until the end of Monday to “report their vaccination status” and if they haven’t gotten it, they wouldn’t be allowed into school on Tuesday.

All school employees — including cafeteria and school lunch programs workers — have until the end of Monday to report their vaccination status, and those who have not gotten a first dose will not be permitted to return the next day, leaving principals with little time to replace them.

The principals could then be greeted the next morning with personnel shortages across the board — teachers, teachers aides, paraprofessionals, nurses, cafeteria workers, custodians. Cannizzaro said principals were told Thursday that “the overwhelming majority of schools” may be opening with just one school safety agent.

“This is the nightmare scenario,” Mulgrew said.

So, this is great news that they’re holding off the mandate for now, but the city seems insistent on trying to blow up the system. If they lose before the three-judge panel, de Blasio is going to find out that it’s not as easy as he would like to think.