NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Health care workers in New York state will be required to get a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Friday.
New York already has a vaccine mandate for health care workers. It will now become the first state to require a booster shot for health workers with no “test out” option and only a medical exemption.
Health care worker will have two weeks from when they’re eligible for a booster to receive it.
“We need to make sure that our health care workers are now boosted, not just vaccinated,” Hochul said.
The governor said the omicron variant was leading to breakthrough cases among health care workers and stressing hospitals and health care facilities across the state.
State health commissioner Mary Bassett will recommend the mandate to the Public Health and Health Planning Council, which must sign off on it. The council has a special meeting Tuesday.
“We anticipate swift approval, and it will take effect immediately,” Hochul said.
Asked if she expected to face pushback from workers over the mandate, Hochul noted that 92% of them got vaccinated the first time around.
“I believe they’ll just view this as I did it once, I can do it again,” she said.
The governor also announced new rules for visitors of nursing homes. They must now wear a higher-quality “surgical” type mask and have a negative COVID-19 test within 24 hours.
Hochul said the new measures are in response to an increase in cases at nursing homes. She said the state can't mandate vaccines and boosters for visitors at nursing homes, so it will issue the new requirements and provide nursing homes with the resources to enact them.
“We will make sure that every nursing home has the supplies they need to make sure that visitors are tested and not positive when they walk in the door to possibly expose an entire facility,” Hochul said.
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