NY says vaccine mandate for health-care workers convinced most holdouts to get the shot

As of Monday, 92 percent of New York’s more than 650,000 hospital and nursing home employees have gotten at least one shot, according to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D) office. Last week, 82 percent of nursing home workers and 84 percent of hospital personnel had gotten at least their first dose, and when former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced the mandate on Aug. 16, 70 percent of nursing home health workers and 77 percent of hospital staff were vaccinated.

“At the same time, at least eight lawsuits and several angry protests against mandates in New York served as a reminder that thousands of health care workers would likely resign or choose to be fired rather than get vaccinated,” The New York Times reports. Thanks to one federal lawsuit, health workers statewide who applied for as-yet-nonexistent religious exemptions have until Oct. 12 to get vaccinated.