New York healthcare mandate hailed a success as thousands get vaccinated

(CMR) New York hospitals saw a sharp increase in vaccinated numbers as thousands made their way to get at least the first shot with Monday's statewide mandate coming into effect. Thousands of holdouts waiting until the last minute to get vaccinated.

New York had more than 8,000 workers were unvaccinated a week ago. By Monday morning, that number had dropped to about 5,000 — or just over 10 percent of the work force.

The jump in vaccinations in the days before the deadline gave New York one of the highest rates of vaccination among health care workers nationally. 92 percent of the state’s more than 650,000 hospital and nursing home workers had received at least one vaccine dose, state officials said. That was a significant increase from a week ago, when 82 percent of the state’s nursing home workers and at least 84 percent of hospital workers had received at least one dose.

Gov. Kathy Hochul took steps to prepare for a possible staff shortage including declaring a state of emergency late Monday night that would allow her to use the National Guard to fill staff shortages at hospitals and nurses homes if needed.

A crisis operations center was also opened for health care facilities to request help. Licensing requirements have been waived to allow out of state nursing personnel to be quickly hired if necessary.

The president of New York City's public system, Dr. Mitchell Katz, shared that some 500 unvaccinated nurses were among the employees placed on unpaid leave on Tuesday, but that the system had brought in 500 new nurses and had enough staff to continue functioning safely.

Strong Memorial Hospital shared that less than 300 persons were still unvaccinated out its 16,000. They will be fired if they refuse to get vaccinated.

New York’s mandate is considered among the strictest in the United States. It provides for no option to test weekly rather than get vaccinated. It also allows no religious exemptions, though that is the subject of litigation.

Public school teachers will have to be vaccinated by next Monday or face similar consequences.

California, where health care workers must be fully vaccinated by Sept. 30 unless they receive a medical or religious exemption with other states expected to follow suit.