Health care workers were among the first round of people allowed to get the vaccines in December, 2020.
Across the five boroughs, only 30 percent of hospital workers are fully vaccinated. Manhattan has the highest percentage of vaccinated workers with 76 percent, while only 61 percent of workers have been vaccinated in the Bronx and 62 percent in Brooklyn.
The data shows that 40 percent of hospital staff outside of Manhattan and Queens have either refused the COVID-19 vaccine or not gotten it yet.
Only one hospital in the state, NYPresbyterian-Health, has mandated that all employees to get vaccinated. Staff there have until September 1 to do so.
“According to state data, nearly 74 percent of adults in New York state and 70 percent of adults in the city have received at least one shot,” the Daily Mail reports. “This means that health care workers in the state are meeting the city average, but falling behind the rest of the state.”
The Health Committee is concerned about the example this is setting for other New Yorkers.
“It is distressing that so many health care workers are not getting vaccinated,” Richard Gottfried, Health Committee Chairman and representative of Manhattan in the state assembly, told the New York Post. “It’s important to protect themselves, to protect their patients, and to keep the health care system running. They should be setting an example for everyone.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has claimed that healthcare workers are a priority for vaccination due to their increased risk of being exposed to it. This is why they were allowed the option to get the vaccines before many other groups of people.
Mandatory vaccinations have caused problems for hospitals in other states. Houston Methodist hospital has been sued by over 100 employees after giving them until early June to get the jabs. The lawsuit was thrown out, however, as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission previously ruled to allow employers to create vaccination mandates.
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