Governor Cuomo Announces COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate for Healthcare Workers – Governor.NY.gov

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced today that all healthcare workers in New York State, including staff athospitals and long-term care facilities (LTCF), including nursing homes, adult care, and other congregate care settings, will be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Monday, September 27.The State Department of Health will issue Section 16 Ordersrequiring all hospital,LTCF,and nursing homes to develop and implement a policy mandating employee vaccinations, with limitedexceptionsfor those withreligious ormedical reasons. To date, 75% of the state's ~450,000 hospital workers, 74% of the state's ~30,000 adult care facility workers, and 68% of the state's ~145,500 nursing home workers have completed their vaccine series. Lt. Governor KathyHochul'sadministration wasbriefed prior to the announcement.

"When COVID ambushed New York last year, New Yorkers acted, while the Federal Government denied the problem,"Governor Cuomo said."Now, the Delta variant is spreading across the nation and across New York --new daily positives are up over 1000% over the last six weeks,and over 80 percent of recent positives in New York State are linked to the Delta variant. We must now act again to stop the spread. Our healthcare heroes 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're doing so again today, with these recommendations by Dr. Zucker and federal and state health experts. But we need to do more.Ihave strongly urged private businesses to implement vaccinated-only admission policies, and school districts to mandate vaccinations for teachers. Neither will occur without the state legally mandating the actions-- private businesses will not enforce a vaccine mandateunlessit'sthe law, and local school districts will behesitantto make these challenging decisions withoutlegal direction."

Governor Cuomo also announced that the Department of Health has authorizeda third COVID-19vaccinedose for New Yorkers withcompromised immune systems, followingthe Centers for Disease Control andPrevention'srecommendationlast week.Eligible New Yorkers can receive their third dose 28 days after the completion of their two-dose vaccineseries, effective immediately.

TheCDC is currentlyrecommending that moderately to severely immunocompromised people receive an additional dose, includingpeople who have:

New Yorkers should contacttheir healthcare provider about whether getting an additional dose is appropriate for them at this time.

New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker said,"While we have made tremendous progress in getting New Yorkers vaccinated, this pandemic is far from over and more must be done. The data and science tell us that getting more people vaccinated as quickly as possible is the best way to keep people safe, prevent further mutations, and enable us to resume our daily routines. This mandate will both help close the vaccination gap and reduce the spread of the Delta variant. I want to thank all New York State's healthcare workers for stepping up once again and showing our state that getting vaccinated is safe, easy, and most importantly, effective."

ThesestepsfollowGovernor Cuomo's August 2 announcementthat MTA and Port Authority employees working in New York facilities will be required to be vaccinated for COVID-19 by Labor Day, and his July 28 announcementthat state employees and patient-facing employees in state-run hospitals will be required to get vaccinated for COVID-19 by Labor Day. State employees who choose to remain unvaccinated will be required to undergo weekly COVID testing.

Here is the original post:

Governor Cuomo Announces COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate for Healthcare Workers - Governor.NY.gov