New York State hospitals and nursing homes are bracing for the possibility that the mandatory COVID-19 vaccination order for health care workers will create huge mismatches in medical services when it goes into effect Monday.
Doctors, nurses and support staff – including cleaning and dining room workers – have until September 27 to receive at least the first vaccine as part of one of the most intense coronavirus pandemic programs in the country .
Many have yet to be vaccinated, creating the possibility that thousands of health care workers will not be admitted to their jobs next week.
Governor Kathy Hochul does not indicate that she is going to soften the measure, so hospitals and nursing homes prepare contingency plans that include the suspension of operations that can wait and, in at least one hospital, the suspension of the services of maternity. Nursing homes are reducing admissions. And the state’s largest health insurance, Northwell Health, has thousands of volunteers on hand.
“We would like them to give more time to comply with this vaccine, because at the end of the day, it is a situation in which we are concerned about patient care,” said Tom Quatroche, CEO of the Erie County Medical Center Corporation, which administers a 573-bed hospital in Buffalo.
He estimates that 10% of his employees, about 400, may not be vaccinated by Monday. Under the contingency plan, the hospital said it would suspend non-urgent operations, temporarily stop accepting patients from other hospitals in its intensive care units, and reduce the hours that outside patients are seen.
Hochul, who is a Democrat, ruled out extending the vaccination deadline on Thursday, telling reporters that “there are no excuses” for not complying with the vaccination order.
“Everyone has the right to know that there is no danger of being infected” by hospital personnel, said the governor.
New York is not the only state that has ordered its health personnel to be vaccinated. But he has strongly promoted vaccinations.
This week a judge refused to suspend the New York City Council’s plan to require the vaccine from teachers in the nation’s largest public school system. That order also goes into effect Monday, raising the possibility of thousands of teachers and school staff being suspended.
Federation of United Teachers President Michael Mulgrew asked Thursday for the deadline to be extended because “our schools are not ready.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio, Democrat, responded by saying that those who have not been vaccinated can do so during the weekend, so as not to lose their salary. And if they don’t, “we have thousands and thousands of substitute teachers vaccinated, ready to intervene.”
Hospitals were already hit by a staff shortage stemming in part from growing demand for services, staff retirement and the fatigue of many employees looking for other jobs after a brutal 18 months from the pandemic.
Some are confident that many people will get vaccinated at the last minute and there will be no serious mismatches on Monday.
An encouraging sign is that the New York-Presbyterian, one of the state’s largest hospitals, which gave its staff until Wednesday to get vaccinated, said only 250 of its 48,000 employees had not.
Spokesperson Alexandra Langan indicated in an email that “Those who decided not to comply will not continue working at the NYP.”
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