New York State Mandates Vaccination Against COVID-19 For All Healthcare Workers

The New York State Department of Health issued an order on Monday, Aug. 16 requiring the vaccination of all healthcare workers against COVID-19 by Sept. 27, according to a statement released by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office.

According to an article by Artemis Moshtaghian for CNN, “Monday's vaccination mandate comes weeks after Cuomo announced that all patient-facing healthcare workers at state hospitals must get vaccinated with no testing options. Cuomo is now requiring all healthcare workers including staff at ‘nursing homes, adult care, and other congregate care settings’ be vaccinated by the September deadline.”

New York State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker, M.D. was quoted in the article saying that “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."

Moshtaghian reported that “Cuomo also said that the Department of Health authorized a third COVID-19 vaccine dose following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommendations issued last week.”

Further, “The vaccine holdouts represent a significant chunk of public health workers. According to Cuomo's office, about 75 percent of the state's hospital workers, 74 percent of the state's adult care facility workers, and 68 percent of the state's nursing home workers are fully vaccinated.”

Moshtaghian concluded that “Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul is set to replace Cuomo. Her administration was briefed on the vaccination mandate prior to the announcement, according to the statement.”