After nearly a year of the pandemic decimating New York City’s restaurant industry, forcing thousands of businesses to close permanently and costing tens of thousands of people their jobs, this month brought a glimmer of optimism.

Limited indoor dining has started again and restaurant workers, including servers, cooks and those who make deliveries, have joined the growing list of New York State residents eligible to receive a Covid-19 vaccine.

But at one Brooklyn restaurant, the changes have touched off a clash between the owner and a waitress who was fired on Monday after, she said, she resisted getting vaccinated out of concern that doing so could hurt her chances of becoming pregnant.