BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) Hospitals and nursing homes that are already stretched-thin in New York State face a looming deadline that could make staffing shortages even worse.
Monday, February 21 is the deadline set by the New York State Dept of Health for booster mandates for all health care workers.
Health care workers who were previously required to get the COVID-19 vaccination must also now receive a booster dose within two weeks of becoming eligible unless they have a valid medical exemption. There is no test-out option.
Statewide, about 50% of health care workers in hospitals have received a booster shot. Some hospitals here in Western New York are lower, at 30% and 40%.
"As heath care providers, I think we have a moral and professional obligation to protect our patients," said Dr. Thomas Russo, Chief of Infectious Diseases at the Jacobs School of Medicine. "With Covid a potentially lethal disease, the best way to do it is optimize our protection so that we're not infectious when we interact with our patients."
Recognizing that there is waning immunity with two shots, Russo said the third shot is believed to really improve protection. "That third shot is extraordinarily important," he added.
Not all health care providers are affected by the mandate. It applies to hospitals, nursing homes, long term care facilities, Hospice programs and certain home services. However, many health care workers in private practices are not obligated to receive a booster.
What about health care workers who received the original Covid vaccine series, and then contracted Covid? Isn't natural immunity from the infection better protection than a booster shot?
"There's no question that if you received a couple of shots and got infected, or vice versa, you became infected and then had a couple of shots,
you have fantastic immunity," said Russo. "It's likely equivalent to receiving three shots, but data from the Omicron variant is a bit sparse."
Still, he adds, that we know immunity acquired from infection can be more variable and less predictable than from vaccination.
Russo agrees that infection does enhance immunity but says the reality is that regulations don't give an exclusion for that. "I think it is a reasonable argument, but unfortunately there's no leeway at this point for that," he said.
The Healthcare Association of New York State is calling on Governor Hochul to give the booster mandate another 90 days before enforcing it. The group contends there is just too much going on, including the pandemic, to get everyone boosted on time.
