New York State offered health care workers a choice: Get vaccinated or lose their job. That day came on Monday, September 27, with tens of thousands of unvaxxed employees set to be fired, opening a potentially catastrophic hole in the state’s hospital system. But newish Governor Kathy Hochul had a plan that of course didn’t sit well with the right-wing: replace them with, among others, members of the National Guard.
As per The Daily Beast, Hochul’s plan will expand the qualifications for health care employees, including “workers from other countries, recent graduates, and retirees to practice in New York.” National Guard troops are also on there, long as they’re “medically trained.”
“We are still in a battle against COVID to protect our loved ones, and we need to fight with every tool at our disposal,” Hochul declared in a statement. “I commend all of the health care workers who have stepped up to get themselves vaccinated, and I urge all remaining health care workers who are unvaccinated to do so now so they can continue providing care.”
According to state data, a whopping 84% of New York State health care workers are vaccinated. But that still means as many as 94,000 are unvaccinated. Of those who have refused to get dosed, many have argued that it violates their personal freedoms.
The news was net well met with the GOP and some libertarians.
https://twitter.com/samanthamarika1/status/1442593640396701699
Gov. Hochul's vaccine mandate is throwing our healthcare system into chaos, ruthlessly firing frontline healthcare workers who sacrificed so much the past 18 months to fight COVID. Proud to join local healthcare workers in calling on the Governor to revoke this cruel order.
— Lee Zeldin (@LeeMZeldin) September 27, 2021
New York is set to fire 70,000 healthcare workers tomorrow during a public health crisis because they won’t vax.
Then they plan to declare an emergency so they can bring in the National Guard to fix the shortage THEY CREATED.
Absolutely unconscionable.
— I Am Leah (@Bossy_Leah) September 27, 2021
A government that fires its healthcare workforce (up to 16% in NY) in the midst of a self-proclaimed healthcare crisis loses the credibility to ask for sacrifices from the public to help strained hospitals. This is a political crisis, not a health crisis.https://t.co/pmEnS6ct3X
— Milhouse Van Houten 🇨🇦 (@Milhouse_Van_Ho) September 26, 2021
https://twitter.com/JesseKellyDC/status/1442609724403245061
New York is set to fire 70,000 healthcare workers tomorrow during a public health crisis because they won’t vax.
Then they plan to declare an emergency so they can bring in the National Guard to fix the shortage THEY CREATED.
Absolutely unconscionable.
— I Am Leah (@Bossy_Leah) September 27, 2021
Will The National Guard Cook Our Meals To? Make My Coffee?
Will They Fix Our Roads? Will They Put Out The Fires?
Will They Stock The Shelves At The Store? https://t.co/lvnQSmNlp6
— Spiro (@Spiro_Ghost) September 26, 2021
But it also received praise.
BOOM: New York Governor to sign executive order to replace unvaccinated healthcare workers who have been fired, w/ National Guard personnel who are medically trained, to minimize hospital staffing shortages.
Raise your hand if you want to this in ALL 50 States ✋
— Nathan Mackenzie Brown 🔬🌎 (@NathanMackBrown) September 27, 2021
New York State’s health care employee mandate was going to coincide with one for educators, who were to have been vaccinated on the same date. However, federal judge temporarily blocked the move. It now goes to a three-judge Appeals Court.
(Via The Daily Beast)