New York State has issued a new addition to the healthcare worker COVID vaccine mandate. Now, those who care for the most vulnerable people will be required to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Governor Kathy Hochul said Tuesday that inpatient hospital staff for the Office of Mental Health and Office for People with Developmental Disabilities will have until November 1, 2021 to be vaccinated.
They will need one dose of the COVID vaccine by that time, according to Hochul. “We want to make sure that we have safety in those as well,” she said.
Those who do not get vaccinated will need to submit to weekly COVID testing. The current vaccine mandate for healthcare workers in hospitals and nursing homes does not have a ‘test out’ option.
That’s prompted a number of legal challenges.
“We’re seeing that those deadlines have a way of focusing the mind,” Hochul added, pointing to the states’s 90+ percent vaccination rate in hospitals.
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