Boosters Now Available; Some Fired Over Healthcare Vaxx Mandate

LONG ISLAND, NY — As the clock ticks for healthcare workers to get vaccinated or face termination, Gov. Kathy Hochul also announced Monday that COVID-19 vaccination boosters are now available for eligible New Yorkers.

Individuals 65 and older and people with comorbidities who finished their primary series six months ago are now eligible for Pfizer boosters and can schedule appointments at state-run sites here. Booster shots are also available at pharmacies, doctors' office and clinics; to find out where they are available in our community, text your zip code to 438829.

"This is our best defense," Hochul said. "We're hoping people heed the call."

Also, with the clock ticking for all healthcare workers to be vaccinated by midnight, Hochul said Monday signifies a significant deadline. "My priority is to stop this virus dead in its tracks," she said. "The only way to do this is to ensure everyone is vaccinated but particularly people taking care of the sick. . .I need to keep people in this state safe. We're talking about just common sense here. And so I am calling on all the healthcare workers . . to those who have not yet made that decision, please do the right thing."

There is still time, she said, for healthcare workers to be vaccinated Monday. The healthcare worker vaccination mandate was issued by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in August.

At least one hospital system announced terminations due to employees' refusal to be vaccinated.

Northwell Health said it had fired about two dozen workers who refused to get the COVID-19 vaccinations.

"Northwell has spent several weeks preparing for New York State’s mandate that all health care workers get at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by Sept. 27," a media representative told Patch. "But we are taking even stronger measures to ensure the safety of our staff and, more importantly, the well-being of our patients and the communities we serve."

A few hundred "unvaccinated leaders were contacted last week to take urgent action in regards to getting the shot. About two dozen of them who were still not vaccinated were exited from the system," Northwell Health said in a statement.

Northwell Health said it was beginning the process to "exit" the rest of the unvaccinated staff but wanted to reassure the public that there would be no impact to quality of patient care. "We are proud that our workforce is already nearly 100 percent vaccinated," the statement said.

Should healthcare workers still choose not to be vaccinated, Hochul said she will be convening an operation center; she has asked hospitals where high numbers have been vaccinated to give the state the names of people who are willing to be deployed elsewhere to help mitigate staff shortages.

"We're going to have to build a team and be able to respond to areas where they've not been so responsive in terms of making sure their employees have not answered our call, our requirement that they be vaccinated," she said.

Hochul has also signed an executive order giving her the emergency powers necessary to address the shortages, where they occur, and allowing her to deploy the National Guard who are medically trained. The order will also allow her to deploy people, who've either been retired or who may have had a licensed lapse, and finally, to bring in workers from elsewhere to help.

"That is not my first position, though," Hochul said. "My desire is to have the people who've been out there continue to work in their jobs, working in them safely."

Hochul said it will take some time to get things running smoothly should workers refuse to comply with the mandate, but the state is taking steps preemptively in anticipation of what she called a "preventable" staff shortage. "It is not going to be a perfect situation but it's preventable. This is about self-defense," Hochul said. "I'm here to defend the people of New York."

Booster eligibility

In a letter to the Health Commissioner, New York State's clinical advisory task force endorsed a statement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Friday. Four groups of New Yorkers are now eligible for Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 boosters six months after their primary series. Those who should receive the booster include:

• Those 65 years and older or residents in long-term care settings.
• Those 50 to 64 years of age with underlying medical conditions.
• New Yorkers who received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine may receive their COVID-19 booster dose at least six months after their primary vaccine series if they are 18 to 49 years with underlying medical conditions, based on individual benefits and risks.
• They are 18 to 64 years and are at increased risk for COVID-19 exposure and transmission because of an occupational or institutional setting, based on individual benefits and risks.

Those who received the Moderna or Janssen/Johnson & Johnson, or J&J, vaccine are not currently eligible for a booster dose at this time, but may be in the near future.