New York is expanding its vaccine mandate by adding health care workers at the Department of Mental Health and the Office of People With Developmental Disabilities to the state list of public employees who must get vaccinated.
Gov. Kathy Hochul made the announcement Tuesday afternoon during a press conference.
Due to this mandate, tens of thousands of employees statewide must receive the first dose of the vaccine by Nov. 1. Weekly testing will start Oct. 12 for those who are unvaccinated.
"We want to make sure we have safety in [these locations] as well," Hochul said.
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This latest development comes as home health aides and those who work in adult care facilities must get their first shot by Thursday. The governor said she’s already seen proof it’s working with 92 percent of adult care facilities staff having met the mandate that goes into effect later this week.
"This is up from 77 percent when I took office Aug. 24 and we are approaching those numbers that we need to hit," she said. "We are seeing that those deadlines have a way of focusing the mind on doing the right thing."
