On February 18, the New York State (NYS) Department of Health (DOH) announced that the enforcement of the health care worker booster requirement under the health care personnel vaccination mandate (NYS vaccination mandate) will not take effect on February 21. As a result, health care workers are no longer required to receive a booster dose and health care providers covered by the NYS vaccination mandate (covered entities) are no longer required to ensure that personnel receive and provide documentation of receiving a booster dose. The DOH stated it will reassess in three months whether to require the booster shot in order to increase rates among the health care workforce.
According to the release, the DOH withdrew the vaccination requirement to avoid potential staffing issues stemming from the current workforce shortage and to provide health care workers with more time to receive a booster dose. The DOH has clarified that this announcement has no impact on the original vaccination mandate, which remains in effect.
We will provide additional updates when they become available. In the meantime, if you have any questions related to this update or what it means for your organization, please reach out to Michael Paulsen.