World leaders will have to be vaccinated against the coronavirus to speak at the U.N. General Assembly's big meeting next week, the assembly leader and New York City officials have said, prompting swift objections from at least one nation.
With the diplomatic world's premier event being held in person for the first time during the pandemic, the city International Affairs commissioner told the assembly in a letter last week that officials consider the hall a “convention center” and therefore subject to the city's vaccination requirement.
They must also be vaccinated if they want to eat or exercise indoors, the letter added.
An angry response from Russia came after the prompting move. Russia’s ambassador requested a meeting of the general assembly to discuss the move.
He described it as “a clearly discriminatory measure”, adding that preventing delegates to access the hall was a “clear violation of the UN charter”.