Login
More than 5,500 New York City public school teachers were fired in 2022 and 2023 under COVID-19 vaccine mandates, according to newly uncovered documents from the New York City Department of Education (DOE).
The records, first obtained by attorney Jimmy Wagner through Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests and reviewed by The Defender, show 5,399 teachers were terminated in 2022 and another 112 in 2023, bringing the total to 5,511.
The figures represent a significant departure from February 2022 reports that 1,430 municipal employees, including 914 DOE workers, were fired for failing to comply with vaccination requirements.
“We know it is a lie, because it was 5,500 teachers,” Wagner told The Defender.
Latest numbers don’t account for all DOE employees, advocates say
Some advocates believe the number of DOE employees let go is even higher because the figures didn’t account for non-teachers.
“We now know for sure that over 5,500 teachers were fired for not getting the COVID shot,” said Michael Kane, founder of Teachers for Choice and director of advocacy at Children’s Health Defense. “However, this does not include any non-pedagogues. That would be paraprofessionals, nurse aides, occupational therapists, physical therapists and many other job titles.”
Kane believes resignations due to COVID-19 vaccination mandates also increased throughout these years. He estimated 10,000 DOE teachers were fired or left their jobs due to the mandates.
“It is truly ridiculous that here we are, five years later, and we still don’t know what these numbers are,” Kane said. “If this was really not a big deal, and if the numbers were low, New York City would have reported them publicly a long time ago.”
The city rescinded its vaccine requirement for municipal employees in February 2023, but the decision didn’t automatically restore the jobs of workers who had been fired.
The DOE did not respond to several requests for comment.
Fired teachers continue challenging dismissals
The figures emerge as former New York City educators continue pursuing lawsuits alleging religious discrimination, wrongful termination and violations of their constitutional rights.
Former school employee Helene Moffatt is appealing a September 2026 federal court ruling dismissing her lawsuit over the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Moffatt, who began working for the DOE as a teacher in 1990 and later held an administrative position, was fired April 7, 2022, after officials denied her religious exemption request.
She claimed the department discriminated against her because of her Catholic beliefs, and alleged that the DOE assigned her a personnel designation known as a “problem code,” preventing her from obtaining another teaching position after the mandate ended.
U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert dismissed her lawsuit on Sept. 10. Her attorney, Ronald A. Berutti, told The Defender that Moffatt is appealing to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
“These mandates have, unfortunately, been widely upheld by the circuit courts,” Berutti said.
Berutti argued that the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1905 Jacobson v. Massachusetts ruling, which upheld a smallpox vaccination mandate, should not automatically govern Moffatt’s case because New York’s requirement was imposed by executive action instead of a legislative decision to mandate vaccination.
He said the courts should apply strict scrutiny when examining whether the state violated Moffatt’s religious rights.
“The current U.S. Supreme Court has been very assertive in both the areas of religious freedom and separation of powers,” Berutti said. “Thus, we believe that these arguments in New York may spark the Supreme Court’s interest.”
Federal courts reject other DOE claims
Other former school employees have faced setbacks in federal court.
On Oct. 20, U.S. District Judge Nina Morrison dismissed a lawsuit filed by Maureen Hurley, a former New York City public school librarian fired in September 2022 after refusing vaccination.
Hurley alleged religious discrimination, retaliation and constitutional violations. Morrison rejected her claims, finding that she had not established grounds for relief.
In August, U.S. District Judge Rachel Kovner dismissed a separate lawsuit filed by former tenured teacher Jadenae Trabacchi.
Trabacchi said the DOE violated her rights by terminating her without the disciplinary hearing normally afforded to tenured educators because she didn’t comply with the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
The court rejected that argument, relying on New York precedent treating vaccination as a condition of employment rather than a disciplinary matter requiring a tenure hearing.
Lorraine Masciarelli, a tenured teacher, sued the DOE in December 2022, alleging officials violated her religious rights when they fired her for refusing a COVID-19 vaccine.
Masciarelli, a practicing Roman Catholic, was terminated Sept. 5, 2022, after the department denied her requests for a religious exemption.
Her attorney, Austin Graff, argued in the complaint that officials failed to consider alternatives that would have allowed her to continue working.
“There were reasonable accommodations that would not have caused the NYCDOE an undue hardship, but none were offered to the Plaintiff to accommodate her sincerely held religious beliefs,” the complaint stated.
Graff told The Defender that all terminated educators “should get their jobs back, with back pay, benefits and pension credit.”
This article was funded by critical thinkers like you.
The Defender is 100% reader-supported. No corporate sponsors. No paywalls. Our writers and editors rely on you to fund stories like this that mainstream media won’t write.
Workers seek reinstatement and compensation
New York City’s mandate took effect in October 2021, requiring public school employees to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination unless they received an approved exemption.
Thousands of city employees were placed on unpaid leave after failing to comply.
In November 2025, the city announced a reinstatement opportunity for approximately 2,900 municipal workers who had been terminated under the mandate. The offer did not include back pay or credit for time away from employment.
The 2,900 figure covered municipal employees across city agencies, not teachers alone.
City officials defended the original vaccination requirement as a public health measure to protect employees and students during the pandemic, saying COVID-19 vaccines have been shown to reduce the risk of severe illness and death.
But former educators and their attorneys maintain that the mandate’s repeal has not resolved the financial and professional consequences of their dismissals.
For Wagner, the newly obtained statistics are a grim reminder of teachers who lost their livelihoods and a city that has not fully accounted for their departures. Even worse, he believes a far higher number of educators who refused the vaccine lost their jobs without receiving adequate due process.
“I am sick to my stomach that they [the DOE] did this to the working men and women of NYC,” he said.
Related articles in The Defender
- U.S. Supreme Court Rejects New York Healthcare Workers’ Bid to Revive COVID Vaccine Mandate Lawsuit
- He Won His COVID Vaccine Mandate Case. Now the City Is Hauling Him Back to Court in Bid to Withhold His Back Pay
- ‘Smoking Gun’ Emails Show New York City Officials Played Role in Firing Unvaccinated Workers
- First They Came for the Teachers: Legal Battle Over COVID Vaccine Religious Exemptions Continues
- New York Teachers Vow to Keep Fighting After Supreme Court Turns Down Religious Exemptions Case
- CHD Threatens Legal Action Against New York Schools That Deny Medical Exemptions
