Youngstown Mayor Tito Brown released a statement  saying that his administration will not be enforcing the vaccine mandate at this time for city employees. 

Brown originally stated that he was in favor of the mandate, and that he had the legal authority to impose the mandate. 

Brown also stated that he would like to see 75% of city employees vaccinated by January 4. The city employee vaccine rate is currently at 50%. 

If the vaccine mandate were to be in place, city employees would be able to opt out through weekly testing. 

Due to the new Omicron variant and the fact that it is highly transmissible, there has been a strain on testing availability.  

Tito Brown stated in a press release: 

Mayor Brown states, “When I started the process to implement testing mandates for employees, the Omicron variant had not been discovered, therefore I cannot set unrealistic testing requirements on city employees when the supply and demand of testing kits and sites are not readily available at this time.”

City employee vaccination still remains a priority for Brown, and city employees will now have more time to receive the vaccine and booster shots. 

The administration's Covid-19 team will continue to meet to monitor the ongoing situation.