New York City will require all city workers to receive a coronavirus vaccine by the start of the new school year, or to present mandatory weekly coronavirus tests, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Monday morning.

โ€œThis is about our recovery. This is about what we need to do to bring back New York City. This is about keeping people safe,โ€ de Blasio said at a press conference. โ€œSeptember is the pivot point of the recoveryโ€ฆand so on Sept. 13, the first day of school, every single city employee will be expected to be either vaccinated or be tested weekly.โ€

The new policy will apply to over 350,000 city workers, including all public school teachers and police officers. About 60 percent of Department of Education workers are vaccinated against coronavirus, a spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal, while the NYPD said 43 percent of its service members are vaccinated.

Additionally, de Blasio said the city will require unvaccinated employees to wear a mask in indoor settings. Vaccinated employees will not be required to wear a mask if they are able to show proof of vaccination before entering their workplace.

Renee Campion, the cityโ€™s labor relations commissioner, said that unvaccinated employees who refuse to wear a mask โ€œwill not be paidโ€ for days spent out of the office.

De Blasio has refused to implement a city-wide indoor mask mandate amid increased spread of the Delta coronavirus variant. The mayor said he would prefer that residents get vaccinated.

โ€œI donโ€™t want to see people say, โ€˜Oh, weโ€™re wearing masks so we donโ€™t need to deal with vaccination,'โ€ de Blasio said last week. โ€œWe have the solution to the thing that is killing so many people and is now threatening once again our ability for people to make a living. Why is this hard? Just go get vaccinated.โ€