Some hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare providers are preparing to operate without up to a third of their staff at the start of next year, if those workers don’t comply with a federal mandate to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
The Biden administration is requiring facilities that receive funding from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to have workers vaccinated by Jan. 4.
Two dozen states are challenging the requirement in court. A federal-district court in Missouri on [November 29] issued an injunction temporarily blocking the mandate in 10 states: Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. Many healthcare providers in those states and beyond are reviewing requests for religious and medical exemptions from the rule or firing workers who won’t get the shots.
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Some healthcare employers are setting a hard line against exemptions, betting that will encourage more workers to get vaccinated. Others are being more permissive. And some are looking to hire workers who have left or been denied exemptions at other hospitals and clinics. The decisions add up to a major operational threat for some healthcare providers at a time when workers are in shorter supply than ever.
