Zeldin Blasts Healthcare Worker Vaxx Mandate At LI Rally

LONG ISLAND, NY — Surrounded by people carrying signs that said "I am informed. I do not consent," and "End Medical Tyranny," Rep. Lee Zeldin held a rally Monday blasting a healthcare vaccination mandate that he said could lead to "chaos" — and calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul to revoke the measure.

Hochul said Monday that the mandate — which was announced by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in August — could cause "preventable" shortages.

Zeldin said the mandate would leave healthcare workers who stepped up during the pandemic without paychecks and ineligible for unemployment benefits.

"If healthcare workers do not receive at least one dose of one of the COVID-19 vaccines by the end of the day today, without a medical exemption or having previously filed for a religious exemption, they will forfeit their jobs," Zeldin said. "The governor’s mandate is leading to staffing shortages and chaos in our state’s hospitals and nursing homes, and abruptly forcing frontline healthcare workers out of their livelihoods."

Calling the order "one-size-fits-all," Zeldin said there were reasonable alternatives, including enhanced personal protective equipment and testing requirements.

“Our healthcare workers were nothing short of heroic the past 18 months. . . They helped us navigate some of the pandemic’s darkest days and saved lives,” Zeldin said. “We shouldn’t be firing these essential workers. We should be thanking them for all they’ve done for our communities.”

Zeldin said he made the personal choice to be vaccinated, voted for Operation Warp Speed, a public-private partnership that fostered the accelerated development of multiple vaccines; voted for a bipartisan bill to eliminate cost barriers for veterans on Long Island, and worked to establish mass vaccination sites on the East End.

But, he said, the "black-and-white" mandate will mean that healthcare workers, many with mortgages, are at risk of "losing everything with one stroke of a pen."

In April, Zeldin announced that he would be throwing his hat into the proverbial ring in the race for New York State governor in 2022.

With the clock ticking for all healthcare workers to be vaccinated by midnight, Hochul said Monday signified 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."

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.

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."