Gov. Hochul took executive action Monday to allow medically-trained National Guard troops to fill in for hospital workers who are refusing to get their COVID-19 shots despite the state’s vaccine mandate in health care settings.
The mandate requires doctors, nurses and other health care workers statewide to show proof of receiving at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine by midnight Monday in order to continue working.
Hochul said Monday morning she didn’t know how many health care employees in New York won’t be able to work once the mandate takes effect and that she signed an executive order out of precaution to be able to call in the National Guard to fill any staff shortages.
“We’re taking all the steps preemptively in anticipation of what I call a preventable staffing shortage,” Hochul said at a press conference in the Bronx. “I don’t have to do this if people will get vaccinated, there’s plenty of hours left in the day, but I also know I need to be prepared.”
In addition to National Guard troops, Hochul’s order allows the state to tap retired health care workers as well as hospitals workers from out-of-state in the event of vaccine-related staffing shortages.
Even though coronavirus shots have been available for nearly a year, about 16% of New York’s 450,000 health care workers were not fully vaccinated as of this past weekend, according to Hochul’s office.
Vaccine hesitancy has remained persistent despite the highly contagious variant of COVID-19 driving a spike in infections, hospitalizations and deaths across the country.
©2021 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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AND how the hell is that, IN THE MANDATE of what the national guard is supposed to be used for!?
drunk with power.
this mandate is another way of creating chaos and fear.
Job skills are NOT interchangeable. Plumbers are not generally qualified to teach university-level math and PhD’s in math are NOT generally qualified to plumb your house.
Thus sending a soldier to do healthcare is a very dangerous plan. This insanity is one of many results of allowing politicians to dictate policies they have zero qualifications to make.
“Common sense” is becoming very rare these days.
Can we just add an F…Hochul chant to the Biden one. It would be nice if the NY National Guard would refuse to report for duty.
I used to have respect for the natl guard, but seeing how they just ‘bend over’ to follow orders, of these demented fool governors, that respect has gone down the tub.
And we thought Cuomo was bad. Holy Shoot. She takes the cake for stupidity.
Cuomo is out of office.. SHE ISN’T!!!
How long will it take before she starts groping subordinates . . ..