Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay (R,C,I-Pulaski) and his colleagues in the Minority Conference called on Gov. Kathy Hochul to delay the deadline for the state’s vaccination requirement for healthcare workers in order to protect patient care and prevent a serious workforce shortage. The letter also calls on the state to implement a more effective and immediate plan that addresses the impacts of the mandate.

As of the state-imposed Sept. 27th deadline, thousands of healthcare employees and frontline workers face removal from their positions forcing the healthcare industry to scale back on providing elective surgeries, close operating rooms or shut down urgent care facilities, and nursing homes have had to suspend the admission of new residents.

In part, the letter to Gov. Hochul reads, “reports of service cuts and compromised patient care are only beginning. The healthcare industry is facing immediate problems with serious long-term consequences. Under your proposed response plan, they will not be solved as expeditiously as patients and providers require. With that in mind, the Assembly Minority Conference requests that you delay the deadline for the vaccination requirement on healthcare workers until a plan that provides more immediate solutions can be considered and implemented.”

A copy of the letter is available here.

“Weeks ago, my colleagues and I urged Gov. Hochul and the state Department of Health to reconsider the vaccine mandate worried that it would quickly diminish the level of care in New York’s healthcare industry, particularly during the ongoing pandemic. We are already seeing those concerns become reality from one end of the state to the other,” said Leader Barclay. “Today’s immediate problems will likely be tomorrow’s permanent consequences, brought on by the all-or-nothing mandate. Increasing vaccination rates is a critical component of the COVID fight, but we’re punishing the individuals who have been getting us through the pandemic and those in desperate need of their care. Our healthcare system cannot afford this and some, sadly, may not survive it.”