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Regular New Yorkers who lost their jobs to the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate gave Mayor Adams a Bronx cheer Thursday over his decision to grant exemptions for pro athletes and star performers — but not for them.
Unvaccinated Harlem resident Elissa Embree, 43, choked back tears while telling The Post how she was sent home last week from preseason orientation for her job as a waitress at the Mets’ Citi Field, where Adams announced his controversial move earlier in the day.
“I’m not as important as a Met is, because a Met will fill Citi Field, which fills the coffers of New York,” she said.
“They don’t care about little ol’ me, who pays little taxes. They don’t care that I have been out of work and that I have been at my breaking point.”
The married mom of a 2-year-old daughter said she hasn’t been vaccinated because she’s had two miscarriages and is worried that getting jabbed could increase her risk for another.
Embree also said she’d tested positive for coronavirus antibodies and was looking forward to returning to her job at Pat LaFrieda’s Chop House at Citi Field, where she’s made as much as $500 a game.
“I thought we were all a big team here at Citi Field. This would have been my fifth season,” she said.
Her employer, food services giant Aramark, didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
Embree said that when she learned Adams had granted exemptions to high-paid athletes and performing artists, “I thought to myself: This is a major slap in the face.”
“I just reached my breaking point,” she said, adding that she “felt betrayed enough to give a call” to lawyer James Mermigis, who’s been dubbed “the anti-lockdown lawyer” for filing pandemic related suits.
Mermigis, who said he also got calls from about 50 other workers who were let go over the vaccine mandate and want to sue, said, “The irony here is ridiculous.”
“You have a Citi Field employee who was sent home from orientation because she wasn’t vaccinated and the Mets will be here in two weeks, without any regard to their vaccination status,” he said.
FDNY firefighter Sophy Medina — who’s been on unpaid leave since applying for a religious exemption from the vaccine mandate in November — also said she was outraged by what she described as Adams’ double standard.
“How would anyone feel when they are told something is being done for public safety and health, and then you can clearly see that people are getting exemptions — not based on their religion, not based on their belief system and not based on science?” she said.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “There is currently no evidence that any vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines, cause fertility problems in women or men.”
Adams — whose PAC received $1.5 million from Mets owner Steve Cohen for his run for mayor — was joined by executives from the Amazin’s and the Yankees for his announcement.
He said his decision to give an exemption to the likes of Yanks slugger Aaron Judge, who is widely believed to be unvaccinated, Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving, who has missed 35 home games due to the rule, and potentially some Mets, was needed to help the Big Apple rebound from the pandemic.
“Being healthy is not just about being physically healthy, but being economically healthy,” he said.
Just last week, Adams downplayed concerns by local sports fans — and The Post — that the city’s private-sector vaccine mandate could cripple New York’s pro teams, following months during which Irving was prevented from playing at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center because he’s not vaccinated.
But on Thursday, the mayor said a provision that exempted out-of-town athletes and performers was unfair to the Big Apple and its sports teams.
“This is about putting New York City-based performers on a level playing field,” he said.
“Hometown players had an unfair disadvantage.”
But the city’s sweeping vaccine mandates — which led to the firings of more than 1,400 city employees — will still apply to both municipal and private-sector workers.
Adams also came under fire from the city’s municipal unions and even some fellow Democratic pols, with City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (D-Queens) saying, “This exemption sends the wrong message that higher-paid workers and celebrities are being valued as more important than our devoted civil servants, which I reject.”
But veteran Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf described Adams’ announcement as politically shrewd.
“The citizens are depressed about crime, so what does Adams do? He’s bringing back the entertainment,” Sheinkopf said.
“It helps him, absolutely, and it helps people take their minds off the major problem at the moment: crime.”
Additional reporting by Bernadette Hogan
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