New York’s Health Worker Vaccine Mandate Has Boosted Vaccination Rates

New York is seeing a big increase in health worker COVID-19 vaccinations, an indication that the state’s mandate has helped boost the industry’s vaccination rate.

Last week, New York’s health worker vaccine mandate went into full effect.

Eighty-seven percent of hospital staffers were fully vaccinated as of Wednesday, according to state data, and 92 percent were partially vaccinated.

Though state officials anticipated a staffing shortage as a result of the vaccine mandate, no facilities have closed since the mandate went into effect.

The state also mandated vaccinations for Department of Education staff. “Mandates work,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) said on Friday. “Had we not done the mandate a lot of people would have held back and our schools would have been less safe. There’s so much noise when you put a mandate forward… The bottom line is when the dust settled a huge number of people went out and got vaccinated.”

Article by Elizabeth Letsou