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Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that all healthcare workers in New York State, including staff in hospitals and long-term care facilities (LTCFs), including nursing homes nurses, adult care and other collective care facilities, will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Monday, September 27. The State Department of Health will issue Section 16 orders requiring all hospitals, long-term care facilities, and nursing homes to develop and implement a policy requiring the vaccination of employees, with limited exceptions for people with religious or medical reasons. To date, 75% of the ~ 450,000 state hospital workers, 74% of the ~ 30,000 state adult care workers, and 68% of the ~ 145,500 nursing home workers in the state. ‘State have completed their series of vaccines. Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration was briefed ahead of the announcement.
“When COVID ambushed New York last year, New Yorkers took action, while the federal government denied the problem,” Governor Cuomo said. “Now the Delta variant is spreading across the country and across New York – daily new positives have increased by over 1,000% in the past six weeks, and over 80% of recent positives in New State. York are linked to the Delta variant. Now we must act again to stop the spread. Our health heroes have led the battle against the virus, and now we need them to lead the battle between the variant and the vaccine “We have always followed the science, and we still do today, with these recommendations from Dr. Zucker and federal and state health experts. But we need to do more. I have strongly urged private companies to put in place. implement vaccinated admission-only policies, and school districts to enforce vaccination of teachers. Neither will happen without the state legally mandating actions – private companies will not enforce a vaccine mandate unless it is the law, and local school districts will be reluctant to make these tough decisions without legal direction. “
Governor Cuomo also announced that the Department of Health has authorized a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine for New Yorkers with compromised immune systems, following a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week. Eligible New Yorkers can receive their third dose 28 days after completing their two-dose vaccine series, effective immediately.
The CDC currently recommends that people who are moderately to severely immunocompromised receive an additional dose, including people who have:
- received active cancer treatment for tumors or cancers of the blood;
- You have had an organ transplant and are taking medicines to suppress the immune system;
- You have had a stem cell transplant within the past 2 years or are taking medicines to suppress the immune system;
- Moderate or severe primary immune deficiency (such as DiGeorge syndrome, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome);
- Advanced or untreated HIV infection;
- Active treatment with high dose corticosteroids, cancer chemotherapy which causes severe immunosuppression, or other medicines which can suppress your immune response.
New Yorkers should contact their health care provider to find out if an additional dose is right for them at this time.
New York State Health Commissioner Dr Howard Zucker said: “While we have made huge strides in getting New Yorkers vaccinated, this pandemic is far from over and more needs to be done. Data and science tell us that getting more people vaccinated as quickly as possible is the best way to protect people, prevent further mutations, and allow us to resume our daily routines. This mandate will help both close the vaccination gap and reduce the spread of the Delta variant. I want to thank everyone New York State healthcare workers for stepping up once again and showing our state that getting vaccinated is safe, easy and, most importantly, effective. “
These steps follow Governor Cuomo’s August 2 announcement that MTA and Port Authority employees working at the New York facilities will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Labor Day, and its July 28 announcement that state employees and patient-contact workers in hospitals will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before Labor Day. State employees who choose to remain unvaccinated will need to undergo weekly COVID testing.
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