Vaccination mandate leads thousands of New York health workers to get vaccinated

When New York state officials issued a broad coronavirus vaccine mandate for healthcare workers in August, they expressed confidence that it would put pressure on doctors, nurses and staff at the hospital. reluctant support for them to be vaccinated.

As the deadline for vaccination of around 600,000 nursing home and hospital workers rolled in on Monday, it seemed the bet had turned out to be at least partially correct.

With just a few days or even hours to spare, thousands of healthcare workers have been vaccinated, according to statewide health officials. And while thousands more workers remained unvaccinated and therefore risked suspension or dismissal, the rush of last-minute vaccinations appeared to dull the worst-case staff shortages some institutions feared.

In New York’s public hospital system, more than 8,000 workers were not vaccinated a week ago. But on Monday morning, that number had fallen to 5,000, or just over 10% of the workforce. Although these unvaccinated employees were not allowed to work, city officials said they believed they could handle the shortcomings.

In Rochester, officials at Strong Memorial Hospital suspended planning for elective procedures for two weeks and warned patients to expect longer wait times for routine appointments as the deadline neared the last week. But on Monday, they announced they were able to increase their staff’s immunization rate to 95.5% from 92% last week, meaning fewer than 300 out of 16,000 employees will be made redundant if they do not flex.

“Some are still very scared,” said Kathleen Parrinello, the hospital’s director of operations. “So they need to be held by the hand and reassured.” Other employees, she said, told her they weren’t convinced they should get the vaccine but didn’t want to lose their jobs.

Opposition to the mandate remains strong, despite vaccinations at the 11th hour. At least eight lawsuits challenging the warrant have been filed, some based on First Amendment grounds and others arguing that the state should recognize immunity from prior infection as equivalent protection. In a federal case, healthcare workers are demanding that the state allow religious exemptions.

Protests against the mandate also continue, including at Strong Memorial, where hundreds of people rallied against him, most recently on Monday.

Carmen De León, president of Local 768, which represents respiratory therapists, social workers and many other workers in the city’s public hospital system, noted that some of those opposed to vaccination could likely find a new one. employment in other states. .

“You’ve had people who have worked throughout the pandemic and they haven’t gotten sick, and now you’re telling them they need to get the vaccine and they don’t know what the outcome will be,” she said. .

Statewide, the vaccination rate for hospital workers rose Monday night to 92% of workers receiving at least one dose, according to preliminary data from the governor’s office. The nursing home rate also jumped to 92% on Monday, from 84% five days earlier. Yet many nursing homes were already facing severe staff shortages before the mandate, making any further staff cuts potentially dangerous.

At Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo, 20% of staff at its affiliated retirement home, Terrace View, were placed on unpaid leave on Monday for refusing vaccinations, a spokesperson said. The hospital said it was doing its best to make up for the reduction by transferring staff from other facilities, reducing the number of beds in the nursing home and suspending some elective surgeries at the hospital.

In the past few hours, more than 100 people have shown up for last-minute vaccines at the medical center, leaving 276 unvaccinated workers who have been put on leave.

In the weeks leading up to the mandate taking effect, the hospital already had 400 vacancies and a record number of patients, in part because it was unable to refer patients to nursing homes and centers. rehabilitation centers who were experiencing their own staff shortages.

So although hospital officials expressed relief that many of their employees were getting vaccinated, they remained in crisis mode on Monday.

Across the country, hospital officials are making similar bets that the warrants will push staff to get vaccinated. At Houston Methodist Hospital, one of the first hospitals to impose a vaccine requirement, 153 out of 25,000 employees were laid off or resigned, and about 600 others were granted medical or religious exemptions. According to senior leaders of the organization, the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit reached its vaccination rate of up to 98% after the implementation of a mandate.

“We see in a lot of places that it works, it is effective,” said Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, as she expressed President Biden’s support for the New York tenure during the a press briefing on Monday.

In New York, workers who have requested religious exemptions – likely thousands of people – are temporarily allowed to continue working until October 12. State emergency regulations requiring vaccination do not allow religious exemptions, but Judge David N. Hurd in Utica has prevented the state from carrying out that part of the warrant until he rules on the merits of a lawsuit filed by 17 medical workers.

The latest job losses, though less severe than expected, come amid a nationwide shortage of nurses and other positions that have further strained healthcare workers already deeply stressed by 19 months of the pandemic . As a result, hospitals have activated emergency staffing plans in recent weeks to reassign workers and bring in volunteers, retirees and other reinforcements.

Late Monday evening, Governor Kathy C. Hochul signed an executive order allowing her to use emergency powers to call the National Guard and suspend authorization rules so that retired healthcare workers, and those in the other states and countries, can fill staff shortages.

Ms Hochul said the state was opening an operations center to coordinate efforts and said she had asked some hospitals with near-perfect immunization rates if they could lend staff to health centers facing challenges. shortages.

“My No. 1 job in this state is to protect people,” she said at a press briefing.

In the Bronx, Dr. Eric Appelbaum, chief medical officer at St. Barnabas Hospital, said some unvaccinated employees who feared getting vaccinated simply forgot about the matter – until the warrant made it impossible ignorance any longer.

As of last Wednesday, more than 20 percent of the approximately 3,000 hospital staff had not yet received their first dose. By late Monday morning, that number had dropped to just 6 percent, said Dr Appelbaum.

Much of the last-minute rush went out of sight, said Dr Appelbaum. Although some employees have visited a clinic run by a hospital to be vaccinated, many latecomers have been vaccinated at chain pharmacies.

As of Monday morning, around 83 full-time and 150 part-time staff were still unvaccinated – and they were taken off the work schedule. If they did not get vaccinated within a week, Dr Appelbaum said “they will be categorized as voluntary resigners.” Most of the unvaccinated staff were in support roles, such as housekeeping.

“I didn’t think it would be that good,” he said of the hospital’s vaccination rate, which he feared was not reaching 90 percent. Still, he marveled that some employees who had worked during the height of the New York epidemic – when a refrigerated trailer serving as a makeshift mortuary was parked outside the hospital – would forgo the vaccine.

“The human brain has a real capacity to exclude this stuff,” he said.