Bayside Council Member Barred From Chamber After Defying Vax Rule

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — Bayside's City Council member had her first day on the job this week, but she was barred from the Council's meeting room.

Vickie Paladino, District 19's new Council Member, publicly refused to submit her vaccination status to the city, defying a mandate that all workers show proof of COVID-19 vaccination in order to enter City Hall or any Council offices.

As a result, the Council Member voted remotely from City Council minority leader Joseph Borelli's City Hall office instead of casting votes from the next-door chamber floor, a spokesperson for Paladino confirmed.

"This cannot be how we run our society, where people must produce papers in order to have access to the most basic functions of life and work," the spokesperson said on behalf of Paladino.

After her first day at work, the Council Member herself took to Twitter to protest being barred from Council chamber — a move she described as "COVID theater" perpetuated by "left-wing crybullies trying to keep a strong anti-mandate voice out of the council chamber."

The vaccine requirement at City Hall has reportedly been in effect since Nov. 15th, before Paladino's election victory was certified.

While she chose not to "force a spectacle on the Council floor" this week, Paladino vowed that, going forward, people who do not want her in the chamber "will have to remove [her]."

As to how the Council Member plans to partake in future sessions, her spokesperson said that he expects the issue to be "be resolved positively."

Despite being barred from the chamber floor, Paladino was seemingly allowed to enter City Hall and meet in Council offices with other members (all while unmasked), according to photos that she posted on Twitter.

She was also seemingly photographed on the chamber floor for a recent magazine feature. A spokesperson at the City Council office, however, said that Paladino was not sworn in as a Council Member when the photograph was taken, and the office's vaccination mandate only applies to Council Member's and staff, not members of the general public.

When asked about the apparent discrepancy between the City Hall vaccine mandate and Paladino's presence in City Hall a Council spokesperson reiterated the order that city employees need to be vaccinated in order to work at City Hall, 250 Broadway, or any Council District Office.

"That remains the policy of the City Council. There will be no exceptions absent a valid request for a medical or religious accommodation. The protection of the health and safety of our staff and Council Members is of the highest priority to the Council," the spokesperson said.

Paladino's anti-vaccine status is hardly new. The Republican, who ran on an anti-vaccine mandate platform, has long protested the city's vaccine requirements, falsely claiming the mandates are a HIPAA violation, a law that only applies in health care settings. She also flouted the state's COVID guidelines last winter, leading a maskless "COVID conga line" at an indoor GOP event.

In Nov., before getting sworn in, Paladino pledged that she wouldn't require her staff to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or disclose her own jab status.

"This is about protecting our staff," Paladino's son and former campaign director, Thomas Paladino Jr., told Patch at the time.

Related Article: Vickie Paladino Won't Heed Council Rule To Disclose Vax Status