NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Northwell Health on Monday announced it had fired about two dozen unvaccinated employees who refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine as required by a state mandate.
Hospital and nursing home workers in New York State have until 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 27 to receive at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine under an order signed by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
As hospital and nursing homes brace for the prospect of severe staff shortages over the mandate, Northwell Health – the state’s largest healthcare system – said Monday it has already begun to take action.
“As a health system we are committed to vaccinating our entire workforce beyond the scope of the state’s mandate to include both our clinical and non-clinical staff,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “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.”
The unvaccinated leaders are at the management level, or above, according to a Newsday report.
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The hospital system said it will be asking the rest of its unvaccinated staff to exit within the week.
“Northwell wants to reassure the public that during this time there will be no impact to the quality of patient care at any of our facilities,” a spokesperson said. “We are proud that our workforce is already nearly 100 percent vaccinated.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday that she is also preparing for a possible staff shortage and will be assuming emergency powers to bring in the National Guard, retired medical personnel and others to help keep hospitals and other medical facilities open.
“It is not going to be a perfect situation,” Hochul said. “[We’re going] to deploy the National Guard – who are medically trained –deployed people we've been retired, and they've had a license lapse, [and] bring in people from elsewhere.”
She added that she is hopeful she will not have to take such measures and believes healthcare workers will be getting vaccinated right up to the deadline.
“I don’t have to do this if people will get vaccinated,” Hochul said. “There’s plenty of hours left in the day, but I also know I need to be prepared.”
Workers who refuse the vaccine will not be eligible to receive unemployment benefits, according to the state Department of Labor.
Hochul noted that she believes the state will win any court challenges to the mandate.