Time’s up for unvaccinated medical workers

No more delays: medical workers must now be vaccinated

It’s a big moment for President Biden’s vaccine requirement: health-care workers now must be vaccinated in all but one state.

The White House originally sought to increase the country’s lagging vaccination rate through measures like a vaccinate-or-test rule for large employers and a mandate for federal workers. Both have been halted by the courts. The rule for health-care workers appears to be the only major federal requirement that will almost definitely remain in effect, despite strong opposition from GOP states. 

The details: Last month, the Supreme Court allowed the mandate for health-care workers to go forward in facilities receiving Medicare and Medicaid funds. The vaccine rule covers roughly 10.4 million staff at 76,000 facilities. 

The timeline: Health-care workers in roughly half the states had to get their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine by Jan. 27. 

But the effective dates were staggered, since the rule had been originally blocked in Republican-led states that argued the federal government didn’t have the power to require the shots. As of yesterday, staff in 24 other states had to have had at least one shot, and workers in the last state — Texas — must be vaccinated next week. 

• “At the health system level or local level when mandates have gone into effect, there’s been relatively low amounts of people leaving their jobs,” said MaryBeth Musumeci, an associate director at the Kaiser Family Foundation. “So we’ll have to see if that pattern plays out in this broader initiative.”

It’s hard to say for sure.  

It’s still early so there’s not yet data on how many health-care workers around the country are vaccinated. (Though there are for nursing homes, and on average, nearly 83 percent of staff per facility are vaccinated). But a CMS spokesperson said the agency has heard from states and providers that compliance is going well. 

• For the agency’s part: CMS officials have held best practice sessions with facilities; provided technical assistance and trainings; and encouraged nursing homes and other facilities to share methods that have worked to boost their vaccination rates.
• Assessing compliance: That largely falls to the states. State survey agencies will help determine whether providers are complying, such as when they investigate a complaint or during the standard recertification process.

Some hospitals had forged ahead with mandates months ago. For instance, Shira Doron, an infectious-disease physician at Tufts Medical Center, said her hospital required vaccinations well before omicron hit.

• Staff that were infected with the contagious variant were “largely able to return early because they didn’t get very sick,” she said.

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