The New York State Supreme Court has ruled that vaccines do not prevent the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, rendering mandates obligating public employees to get the jab invalid.
In its ruling Monday, the court determined that "being vaccinated does not prevent an individual from contracting or transmitting COVID-19."
Based on this finding, the court ordered that all public workers fired for failure to comply with vaccine mandates in the State of New York must be rehired and given back pay.
The lawsuit itself was filed by 16 sanitation workers who were fired by New York City after they failed to comply with the October 2021 vaccine mandate.
Judge Ralph Porzio ruled that the mandate, imposed by the New York City Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene's, violated the state constitution and the workers’ constitutional rights to due process and equal protection.
"There is nothing in the record to support the rationality of keeping a vaccination mandate for public employees, while vacating the mandate for private sector employees or creating a carveout for certain professions, like athletes, artists and performers. This is clearly an arbitrary and capricious action because we are dealing with identical unvaccinated people being treated differently by the same administrative agency."
The City of New York, which has thus far refused to rehire workers fired under the COVID vaccine mandate, vowed to appeal the decision.
“In the meantime, the mandate remains in place as this ruling pertains solely to the individual petitioners in this case. We continue to review the court's decision, which conflicts with numerous other rulings already upholding the mandate,” a spokesperson for the New York City’s law department told CNN.