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At the end of a week that began with fears of a serious staff shortage in New York City hospitals due to the state’s deadline on Monday for health workers to be vaccinated, the data showed a dramatic increase in vaccination.
Ninety-two percent of hospital and nursing home staff have now received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, New York Governor Kathy Hochul reported this week. As of August 24, only 71% of hospital workers had received a dose of the vaccine, according to state figures.
“This new information shows that firmly holding onto the vaccine mandate for healthcare workers is simply the right thing to do to protect vulnerable members of our family and loved ones from COVID-19,” Hochul said in a statement. press praising the “dramatic action” that his predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, announced in late July as a way to slow the spread of the virus.
High rates of compliance with vaccine mandates are also observed in other states. Despite headlines showing marginal resistance nationwide, the vast majority of healthcare workers are getting vaccinated.
At Houston Methodist Hospital, one of the first to announce a vaccination mandate, only 153 hospital staff, or 0.58% of more than 26,000 employees, were fired or resigned because they refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
At Novant Health System in North Carolina, 175 workers, or 0.50% of 35,000 employees, were laid off due to vaccine non-compliance. And at Indiana University Health, which employs about 28,500 people, only 125 employees are no longer employed because they refused to be vaccinated.
All of these hospitals have, in turn, hired vaccinated healthcare workers to fill vacancies left by those who have refused to be vaccinated for a disease that has so far killed nearly 700,000 Americans.
Dr Leana Wen, an emergency physician and professor of public health at George Washington University, says warrants are essential for any kind of substantial progress on the pandemic.
“We are seeing immunization mandates working across the country,” Wen told Yahoo News. “If there are people who are not vaccinated, there is a greater likelihood that they will end up being infected and out of work for this reason, [in turn] infect other people and put others out of work.
A recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that unvaccinated people are 29 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than those who are vaccinated. Many hospitals have seen these statistics unfold in real time over the summer months when, thanks to the Delta variant, infections have increased. More than 97% of all COVID-19 patients in hospitals during this time were not vaccinated.
But for critics of the vaccine, including some healthcare workers who choose not to be vaccinated, the data does not trump what they see as an infringement on personal freedom.
Dr Mollie James, an intensive care physician in Queens, NY, has been treating COVID-19 patients since the start of the pandemic. But last Monday was her last day at work because of what she calls a “ridiculous vaccine warrant.”
“Money orders are not health care,” James told Yahoo News. “Many doctors and nurses in New York City have already had COVID, so we have the protection of natural immunity – which has been shown to be much longer lasting than the vaccine. “
But according to a CDC study published in August, “COVID-19 vaccines offer better protection than natural immunity alone, and… vaccines, even after a previous infection, help prevent re-infections. »Indicates the agency on its website.
James has been a surgeon for 11 years at several New York-area hospitals and two large healthcare systems in the Midwest. She is now seeking private practice and says she is also open to seeking employment in states that do not have a vaccination mandate.
“At this point, it seems likely that every person will eventually contract the virus, so early outpatient treatment should be our main focus,” she said, adding, “My colleagues are generally supportive of me; most are furious that early outpatient treatment has been censored and resulted in hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths. “
For many, outpatient treatment begins and ends with the COVID-19 vaccine.
“It’s not just about your individual choice of whether or not to get the vaccine, it’s also about the health and well-being of everyone around you,” Dr Alyssa Burgart told Yahoo News, pediatric bioethicist and anesthesiologist at Stanford University. . “And that is the fundamental principle of vaccination.”
As vaccination mandates for healthcare workers gain popularity, a similar dynamic is playing out in school districts where vaccination mandates have been implemented.
With 150,000 employees, New York’s public school district is the largest in the country. Coming Friday at 5 p.m., school staff will need to have at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine or risk ending. As of Monday, 97% of principals and about 95% of teachers had been vaccinated, according to data from the city and teachers’ unions, and about 87% of non-teaching staff had received the vaccine.
Yet some schools have longer non-compliance lists than others. The city’s teachers and principals unions pushed back the upcoming deadline, saying the tight window would leave many schools ill-equipped. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio first announced the tenure in late August, but after an unsuccessful court challenge this week of the tenure guidelines, some school staff had only a few days to to get vaccinated.
“At this point, principals and superintendents are constantly reaching out to us to let us know that they are concerned about not having enough staff,” Mark Cannizzaro, chairman of the Board of Supervisors and School Administrators, said at a press conference. last Friday. “I’ve heard of several schools that currently have between 30 and 100 people on a non-compliant list. “
“It’s not just teachers and administrators who are needed in schools,” Cannizzaro added. “We need to have our babysitting staff, our paraprofessionals, our kitchen staff, our school assistants and, of course, our school safety officers.”
The mayor’s office chooses to go ahead with the policy that could cost some staff their jobs.
“We have thousands upon thousands of vaccinated and experienced substitute teachers ready to go,” de Blasio said last week. “This is the obvious first choice, but it is also true that the central staff has thousands of educators, certified educators, who could take on different roles if necessary. “
But de Blasio has made it clear that he hopes the workers will simply comply with the mandate.
“The reality that we are seeing right now is that we believe the overwhelming majority of our educators and staff will be there on Monday, having received that first dose and moving forward,” he said.
While reluctance to vaccinate has helped explain low vaccination rates nationwide, it is clear that the tenure and threat of layoffs have helped increase the percentage of Americans vaccinated.
And while critics have assaulted governments and companies that have mandates in place for what they perceive to be a violation of their rights, Wen thinks that doesn’t understand why vaccines are needed.
“If you are a health worker treating vulnerable patients, if you are a teacher working with children too young to be vaccinated, it is first and foremost your responsibility not to make them sick,” she said. “If you’re a healthcare worker, you need to get the flu shot every year. You must show proof of vaccination against hepatitis, measles and chickenpox. We must not look at COVID-19 any differently. “
Cover thumbnail photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Eduardo Munoz Alvarez / Getty Images, John Moore / Getty Images, J. Conrad Williams, Jr./Newsday RM via Getty Images
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