Tens of thousands of healthcare workers in New York are prepared to lose their jobs as the deadline to be vaccinated against COVID-19 arrived on Monday.
According to the latest state data released last week, just 84 percent of 450,000 hospital staff have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
This means at least 72,000 hospital workers could be suspended or fired for refusing to be inoculated.
With severe shortages expected, hospital administrators prepared contingency plans that included cutting back on noncritical services and limiting admissions at nursing homes.
New York Gov Kathy Hochul said this weekend she was prepared to call in medically trained National Guard members and retirees, or vaccinated workers from outside the state, to fill any gaps.
The governor has held firm on the mandate in the face of pleas to delay it and multiple lawsuits challenging its constitutionality.
New York state's deadline for healthcare workers to get at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine arrived on Monday. Pictured: Nurse Practitioner Christine Cunningham inject respiratory therapist Jose Abraham with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, New York, December 2020
About 84% of 450,000 workers have gotten a shot, meaning about 72,000 workers could be suspended or fired for refusing to do so. Pictured: Hundreds gather at Foley Square in New York City to protest vaccination mandates, September 2021
The mandate for healthcare workers was issued in August by former Gov Andrew Cuomo and supported by Hochul when she succeeded him.
All health care workers in New York state at hospitals and nursing homes were required to get at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by Monday.
Employees who refuse the shots face suspensions and termination.
The rules apply not just to people such as doctors and nurses, but also to others who work in health care institutions, including food service workers, administrators and even cleaners.
When the mandate was first announced, the state said that health care workers would not be allowed to receive religious exemptions, only medical exemptions.
