Credit: NYC Health + Hospitals
NYC-Health-Hospitals-Vaccine-Mandate
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Some hospitals and nursing homes in New York began removing workers Monday for failing to meet a state-mandated deadline to get a COVID-19 vaccine as Gov. Kathy Hochul pleaded with holdouts to get 11th-hour inoculations.
It was not clear Monday if a wave of suspensions and terminations of healthcare workers who refused to be inoculated would cause dramatic staff shortages around the state. Hochul said workers had until the end of the day Monday to get at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, as required.
The rules apply not just to people like doctors and nurses, but also to others who work in health care institutions, like food service workers, administrators, and cleaners. Employees who refuse the shots face suspensions and termination. And workers terminated because of refusal to be vaccinated are not eligible for unemployment insurance without a doctor-approved request for medical accommodation.
“To those who have not yet made that decision, please do the right thing,” Hochul said at a press briefing. “A lot of your employers are anxious to just give you the jab in the arm and say you’re part of the family, we need your help to continue on.”
My #1 job is to keep people safe. New York is first in the nation when it comes to getting health care workers vaccinated — to do everything to protect people.
My staff & I are hard at work to make sure every New Yorker who needs care can receive it.
— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) September 28, 2021
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