New York Vaccine Mandates Have Proven to be Effective but at a Cost
With the statewide coronavirus vaccine mandate for healthcare workers and the New York City vaccine mandate for Department of Education employees now in full effect, administrators in both fields are worried about understaffing.
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The mandate for healthcare workers was announced by former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in mid-August and went into effect on September 27 under Governor Kathy Hochul. The mandate appears to have been a success as the state’s healthcare facilities have seen a surge in vaccinations.
Among New York healthcare staff, the vaccination rate jumped to 87% on September 28, up 10% from four days prior, according to a report by Time Magazine. Healthcare professionals and public leaders are concerned, however, that the vaccine mandates will only exacerbate an ongoing problem since the start of the pandemic: staffing shortages.
In anticipation of understaffed hospitals, Hochul declared a state of emergency the same day the healthcare vaccine mandate went into effect. This move allowed healthcare providers licensed in other states and countries, retirees, and recent graduates to work in New York health services, along with having medically trained National Guard members and Disaster Medical Assistance Teams to help.
The Iroquois Healthcare Association conducted a survey in mid-September with 33 New York hospitals, in which they found a job vacancy rate of 13.2% — about twice as much as it was in June. After the mandate took effect, about 1,300 employees at the same hospitals were fired.
Healthcare workers who are terminated for not receiving the vaccine will also be ineligible for unemployment insurance unless they have a doctor-approved medical exemption.
A similar issue has also come up in New York City’s Department of Education following their enforcement of an employee vaccine mandate. Since the announcement that DOE employees were to be required to provide proof of their first covid vaccine shot by September 27, 43,000 doses were administered, according to Fox 5.
On October 4, NY District 37’s public employees’ union, which represents 20,000 school support workers, said that 93% of their members had provided proof of at least one dose of the covid vaccine, up from 68% at the beginning of September. This data indicates the positive effect of vaccine mandates for state workers, but even with so many doses given out in such a brief period, understaffed schools are still a problem. It is estimated that 15,000 employees would not return to work as of October 5 due to the vaccine mandate.
“Our parents need to know their kids will be safe,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a news conference. “They entrust us with their children. That’s what this mandate is all about. Every adult in our schools is now vaccinated, and that’s going to be the rule going forward.”
De Blasio is also threatening to have employees suspended without pay if they do not comply with the mandate and get vaccinated. To address any resulting staffing shortages, the city has a reserve of roughly 9,000 vaccinated substitutes and 5,000 paraprofessionals on standby, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“We have a lot of talented young people who are ready to take those jobs,” he said, referring to the standby substitutes who will take over for educators who refuse to get vaccinated.