BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - Health care workers in New York will be mandated to get the COVID-19 vaccine, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Monday.
The health care workers include staff at hospitals and long-term care facilities, nursing homes, adult care, and other congregate care settings. They must receive the first dose of the vaccine by September 27.
"When COVID ambushed New York last year, New Yorkers acted, while the Federal Government denied the problem," Governor Cuomo said in a statement. "Now, the Delta variant is spreading across the nation and across New York -- new daily positives are up over 1000% over the last six weeks, and over 80 percent of recent positives in New York State are linked to the Delta variant. We must now act again to stop the spread. Our healthcare heroes led the battle against the virus, and now we need them to lead the battle between the variant and the vaccine. We have always followed the science, and we're doing so again today, with these recommendations by Dr. Zucker and federal and state health experts. But we need to do more. I have strongly urged private businesses to implement vaccinated-only admission policies, and school districts to mandate vaccinations for teachers. Neither will occur without the state legally mandating the actions -- private businesses will not enforce a vaccine mandate unless it's the law, and local school districts will be hesitant to make these challenging decisions without legal direction."
75% of the state's 450,000 hospital workers, 74% of the state's 30,000 adult care workers, and 68% of the state's nursing home workers are fully vaccinated.
The governor says his administration briefed Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul about the change. Hochul will take over as governor after Cuomo's resignation on August 24.