Vaxx Mandate Coming; Hospitals Should Have Shortage Plans: Hochul

LONG ISLAND, NY— With New York's vaccination mandate for healthcare workers set to go into effect on Sept. 27, Gov. Kathy Hochul said hospitals should already be prepared for potential staff shortages due to plans put in place last year.

On August 16, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that all healthcare workers in New York State, including staff at hospitals and long-term care facilities, would be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Monday, September 27.

At a press briefing on Wednesday, Hochul said COVID hospitalizations were a "huge area of anxiety" last year, with hospitals required to ramp up to the surge— but added that due to plans put in place at the height of the pandemic, hospitals are better equipped today.

Last year, during the height of the pandemic, "We had to make sure they had enough staff. We had to make sure they had enough protective equipment," she said.

Today, New York is in a far better place, due to vaccinations. However, there were still 31 deaths Tuesday, she said.

Hochul said the state is monitoring hospital capacity closely. "We are in good shape. We are in a far better place," she said. "The hospitalizations are nowhere near what they were last year."

Due to plans put in place last year, she said: "We know that every one of these hospitals, if necessary, can ramp up again to surge capacity, which means increasing their capacity by 50 percent, and so we want to make sure that that continues."

Vaccinations are critical, she said. "If you're not fully vaccinated, you're 10 times more likely to be hospitalized and 11 times more likely to die. I'm not sure who wants to play with that Russian roulette."

With booster shots on track to be approved Monday, Hochul said many will likely want to receive the shots quickly, so mass vaccinations sites will reopen and EMTS will be authorized to administer the shots.

When asked by the press about concern among some healthcare providers that vaccine mandates are causing them to lose staff when staff are hard to come by, particularly in nursing homes — and whether there would be any amendments to the mandate, Hochul said there were no plans to alter the directive.

"I believe the mandates are smart," she said. "I still believe that they are one of the reasons we are having an increase in the number of people getting vaccinated. I've heard that from hospitals. They're seeing more of their healthcare workers who are on the fence, taking their time, evaluating. And so we are having the effect we want."

Hochul said there will be some who will try to "defy" the mandate, and court decisions to appeal.

"We're going to continue appealing those and trying to win on the merits. In the case we just had in the Northern District of New York, we'll deal with that in court on Sept. 27 or 28," she said.

The mandates, she said, must continue. When the requirement takes effect on Sept. 27, Hochul said, "We'll be on it. I'm not going to let this be a problem for the State of New York."

Hochul said she plans to make sure the resources are in place to deal with any potential staffing shortages.

Hospitals are also required to have temporary staffing plans, anyway, she said. "But I'll be there to help with the Department of Health," she adde.

When asked about litigation involving religious exemption for healthcare workers, Hochul said: "We left off that in our regulations intentionally." She said the state is prepared to defend its position in court. "I'm not aware of a sanctioned religious exemption from any organized religion. In fact, they're encouraging the opposite. They're encouraging their members — everybody from the Pope on down is encouraging people to get vaccinated."

A federal judge temporarily blocked the state of New York from forcing medical workers to be vaccinated after a group of health care workers sued, saying their Constitutional rights were violated because the mandate disallows religious exemptions, the Associated Press reported.

Judge David Hurd in Utica issued the order after the Thomas More Society filed a suit Monday on behalf of 17 health professionals claiming that their rights were violated by a vaccine mandate that disallowed the exemptions.

Hurd's ruling came after a judge refused to issue a temporary restraining order based on a lawsuit by two healthcare workers on Long Island.

The plaintiffs, who said they were Christians, said they are not "anti-vaxxers" who oppose all vaccines, the AP reported.

Scientists say the COVID-19 vaccines do not contain aborted fetal cells but that they, and vaccines for chickenpox, rubella, hepatitis A and rabies, were developed using cells grown in a laboratory based on fetal cells collected generations ago.

Hochul said people need to feel safe when seeking treatment and not worry about contracting COVID-19 from a healthcare professional.