MEMORANDUM & ORDER The plaintiffs here — an organization called Women of Color for Equal Justice and a number of current and former employees of the City of New York — filed this lawsuit against the City, its Mayor and Commissioner of Public Health, and its Departments of Education and of Health and Mental Hygiene. Plaintiffs challenge the City’s orders requiring certain employees to obtain a COVID-19 vaccine. They have applied for a preliminary injunction enjoining the City from enforcing those requirements. Because Plaintiffs have failed to show a sufficient likelihood on the merits, those applications are denied.1 I. Background Between August and December 2021, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the New York City Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene issued a series of nine orders requiring certain individuals to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Vaccine Orders, ECF Nos. 17-19 to 17-27. These included employees and contractors of the New York City Department of Education, other City employees and contractors, childcare workers, nonpublic school staff, and employees of private businesses. Id.2 Plaintiffs are employees or former employees of various City agencies who allege they lost their jobs or were placed on unpaid leave for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, or who were “coerced” into becoming vaccinated. Third Am. Compl. (TAC)
13-39, ECF No. 22. They filed this lawsuit alleging that the Vaccine Orders violate the Occupational Health and Safety Act of 1970 (OSHA), 29 U.S.C. §§651-678; the Supremacy Clause; the First Amendment; and New York City law. Id.