Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Most hospitals in the Buffalo-Niagara region report progress over the weekend in increasing their ranks of health care employees who have received the COVID vaccine.
The vaccination push was a result of the New York State health care worker COVID vaccine mandate that kicks-in Monday morning at 7am.
Administration officials at Kaleida Health, ECMC and Catholic Health tell WBEN vaccination rates have been increasing and hovered around or above 90 percent as of Sunday.
Workers who refuse vaccination and do not have an approved medical exception or requested religious exemption will be placed on 30 day unpaid leave and their employment will be terminated.
The fate of religious exemptions will ultimately be determined in the courts where a decision is expected by mid October.
A full court press has been on to increase vaccination rates at all area hospitals, including those under the Catholic Health umbrella.
"We implemented an aggressive education campaign, including having our infectious disease specialists and other vaccine advocates go unit to unit and department to department, to address any questions or concerns our staff had about the COVID-19 vaccine," said William Pryor, Catholic Health Executive Vice President & Chief Administrative Officer. "Several hundred individuals were vaccinated in the last week alone and we are grateful to all those who stepped up to protect themselves and our patients and long term care residents."
At Kaleida Health, Senior Vice President Mike Hughes states, "The number of unvaccinated employees and providers continues to decrease every day, so we are hopeful that the impact on operations next week will be minimal."
In the days leading up to the vaccine deadline, New York Governor Kathy Hochul has been insistent that all health care workers be vaccinated.
"I am monitoring the staffing situation closely, and we have a plan to increase our health care workforce and help alleviate the burdens on our hospitals and other health care facilities," Hochul said in a prepared release.
Hochul said Saturday she stood ready to implement a state of emergency, if necessary, to deal with any overwhelming health care staffing crisis.
