…All health care workers in New York State, at hospitals and nursing homes, are to be vaccinated against COVID-19 with the first dose received by Monday, September 27, and staff at other covered entities…by October 7.
This was posted on Governor Hochul’s website this week. It is a clear directive and demonstrates a willingness to use executive power to effect rational public policy.
This was posted on Governor Hochul’s website this week. It is a clear directive and demonstrates a willingness to use executive power to effect rational public policy.
The same website notes that, as of its date of publication, 84% of all hospital employees, 81% of staff at all adult care facilities, and 77% of all staff at nursing home facilities were fully vaccinated. That leaves 23% of would-be nursing home staff, 19% of adult care staff, and 16% of hospital employees unvaccinated — and presumably unwilling to be vaccinated. I know we could look at this as a glass more than half-full but when it comes to people that work in health care being vaccinated, 100% is the only acceptable level.
Good for Governor Hochul, though we should all be empathetic about what this means for those working in health care. Large vacancies mean additional stress and the endangerment of staff, patients, and residents.
The time for “hesitancy” is long over. The facts are in, millions and millions of us have been vaccinated and millions more are about to get boosters. It is not a conspiracy. It is not a radically new process without evidence of safety and efficacy. It is not a political statement. Nearly every “hesitant” person out there has already benefited from numerous vaccines from polio to measles to tetanus, so even their own experience contradicts “hesitancy.”
The Department of Labor has issued guidance to clarify that workers who are terminated because of refusal to be vaccinated are not eligible for unemployment insurance absent a valid doctor-approved request for medical accommodation. You go, Governor.
Those with a medically approved reason are exempted, as they should be, but everyone else will be dismissed and receive no unemployment benefits. That means the remaining 20% or so is a very hard nut to crack.
Maybe they didn’t like their jobs anyway? Maybe the added stress as a result of the pandemic has been too much and they are simply not willing to sacrifice whatever it is they imagine they would be sacrificing. It is an economy crying for workers almost everywhere, so maybe they will just migrate to the food service or hospitality industries where they can continue spreading the virus to the public. Does that sounds harsh? It is nowhere near as harsh as the refusal to participate in protecting the community from the continuing spread of the virus and its variants.
Years ago historian Barbara Tuchman published a history of governing disasters from Troy to Vietnam that rested on bad decisions despite contemporary evidence to the contrary. Fortunately, in New York, that is not happening. Were that 20% to be in power, as in Florida, Mississippi, and Texas, we would have to live through the disasters unfolding in those places.
Liberty defined by “what I want” is a recipe for chaos and the endangerment of the many in favor of the entitlement of the few. Public policy with coercive elements to it aimed at protecting the common good, is not “socialist.” It is good government.
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