An emergency edict set to be approved by the New York State Health Department on Thursday would legalize the firing of medical health workers who refuse to get the coronavirus vaccine.
“Covered entities may terminate personnel who are not fully vaccinated and do not have a valid medical exemption and are unable to otherwise ensure individuals are not engaged inpatient/resident care or expose other covered personnel,” the proposed edict states.
Former New York governor Andrew Cuomo issued an order on August 16 mandating all staff working at hospitals and long-term health facilities in New York to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Based on Cuomo’s order all workers at these facilities will need to be vaccinated by September 27.
“When COVID ambushed New York last year, New Yorkers acted, while the Federal Government denied the problem,” Cuomo said in a statement.
“Now, the Delta variant is spreading across the nation and 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,” Cuomo added.
Based on the latest data from the state Department of Health, roughly 75% of the state’s hospital workers, 74% of adult care facility workers, and 68% of nursing home workers have completed the COVID-19 vaccine series.
In his order, Cuomo also said that the only exceptions to the order are those with religious or medical reasons.
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