Some New York hospitals are already suspending or otherwise taking action against employees that have refused to get vaccinated, ahead of the vaccine mandate deadline. Health care employees in New York had until the end of the day Monday to get at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. While a majority of New York's medical workers are already vaccinated, those still holding out faced unpaid suspension or worse. In Buffalo, Erie County Medical Center Corporation said about 5 percent of its hospital staff and 20 percent of nursing home workers had been put on unpaid leave for not being vaccinated. Northwell Health, the state's largest health care provider, said that while almost 100 percent of its workforce is vaccinated, it has begun removing unvaccinated workers from its system."To those who have not yet made that decision, please do the right thing," New York Governor Kathy Hochul said. For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below. Hospitals and nursing homes around the country are bracing for worsening staff shortages as state deadlines arrive for health care workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19. With ultimatums taking effect this week in states like New York, California, Rhode Island and Connecticut, the fear is that some employees will quit or let themselves be fired or suspended rather than get the vaccine."How this is going to play out, we don't know. We are concerned about how it will exacerbate an already quite serious staffing problem," said California Hospital Association spokesperson Jan Emerson-Shea, adding that the organization "absolutely" supports the state's vaccination requirement. Some New York hospitals prepared contingency plans that included cutting back on non-critical services and limiting nursing home admissions. The governor also drew up plans to summon help from National Guard members with medical training, retirees or vaccinated workers from outside the state. About a dozen states have vaccination mandates covering health care workers in hospitals, long-term care facilities or both. Some allow exemptions on medical or religious grounds, but those employees often must submit to regular COVID-19 testing. States that have set such requirements tend to have high vaccination rates already. The highest rates are concentrated in the Northeast, the lowest ones in the South and Midwest. The Biden administration also will require the roughly 17 million workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid to be fully vaccinated under a rule still being developed. That has worried some hospital officials, particularly in rural communities where vaccination rates tend to be lower."We are looking at the need to reallocate staff, in some cases just to maintain services that are essential, and there are going to be some delays" in care, said Troy Bruntz, president and CEO at Community Hospital in McCook, Nebraska. He said 25 of the hospital's 330 employees said they would definitely resign if they
All data is taken from the source: https://www.newsweek.com/
Article Link: https://www.newsweek.com/some-new-york-hospitals-already-suspending-firing-unvaccinated-workers-1633192
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