Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Yes, Some Workers Are Griping — But Vax Mandates Appear To Be Working
The New York Times: ‘Mandates Are Working’: Employer Ultimatums Lift Vaccination Rates, So Far
As California’s requirement that all health care workers be vaccinated against the coronavirus took effect on Thursday, major health systems reported that the mandate had helped boost their vaccination rates to 90 percent or higher. In New York, another mandate that began this week compelled thousands of hospital and nursing home workers to get shots. And at several major corporations, executives reported surges in vaccination rates after adding their own requirements. Until now, the biggest unknown about mandating Covid-19 vaccines in workplaces has been whether such requirements would lead to compliance or to significant departures by workers unwilling to get shots — at a time when many places were already facing staffing shortages. So far, a number of early mandates show few indications of large-scale resistance. (Hubler, 9/30)
Bloomberg: Vaccine Mandates Reach 25% Of U.S. Companies After Biden Order
One in four companies has instituted a vaccine mandate for U.S. workers, a sharp increase from last month, following President Joe Biden’s directive ordering large employers to require shots or weekly testing. Another 13% of companies plan to put a mandate in place, Brian Kropp, chief of human-resources research at consultant Gartner, said in a panel discussion Thursday. The firm’s findings are based off a survey of roughly 400 organizations. (Boyle, 9/30)
Also —
The Washington Post: Lawsuit Seeks To Halt Biden’s Vaccination Mandates For Federal Workforce
A group of lawsuit plaintiffs, including four Air Force officers and a Secret Service agent, have asked a federal court to block the Biden administration’s coronavirus vaccination mandates, declaring, “Americans have remained idle for far too long as our nation’s elected officials continue to satisfy their voracious appetites for power.” The lawsuit, filed Sept. 23 in U.S. District Court in Washington, seeks an injunction that would halt vaccination requirements announced recently for millions of workers in federal executive-branch agencies, including contractors, as well as U.S. troops. (Duggan and Horton, 9/30)
Bloomberg: NY Health Workers Win Religious Exemption To Vaccine Mandate
New York state must temporarily allow exemptions from a mandate on Covid-19 vaccinations for health care workers with religious objections, a federal appeals court ruled, amid a spate of U.S. legal battles over vaccine and mask requirements. The ruling, in a case filed by three workers who sued to block the state’s vaccine mandate outright, comes amid a national debate over mandates put in place to stem the spread of the coronavirus. President Joe Biden has ordered federal workers and contractors to be vaccinated and called for companies with more than 100 employees to require vaccines or weekly tests. Several legal challenges have been mounted against the mandates. (Van Voris, 9/30)
CNN: Covid-19 Vaccine Health Care Worker Holdouts: For Them, It's Personal. For Their Hospitals It's Professional
Being a nurse means everything to Andrea Babinski, but she is willing to risk it all -- the connections to colleagues she likes, the patients she cares for, not to mention the steady paycheck -- for a simple belief. Babinski believes that the decision of whether she should get vaccinated against Covid-19 should be a personal medical choice. So far, she has chosen not to be vaccinated. She says she's not anti-vaccine, or against the Covid-19 vaccine. She encouraged her father to get one. (Christensen, 9/30)
PBS NewsHour: Polarization Over Vaccine Mandate Rules Underscores Difficulty For U.S. To Slow Pandemic
Nearly two-thirds of Americans say health care workers in hospitals, home health care facilities and other medical facilities should be vaccinated. But when you break that response down, a far higher share of Democrats (92 percent) support that federal requirement than do Republicans (38 percent) or independents (56 percent). Partisanship drives so much of the nation’s response to the pandemic, said Dr. Céline Gounder, an epidemiologist who advised the Biden-Harris transition team’s COVID-19 response. Despite hosting multiple clinical trials for vaccines and having a shot for every person, American vaccination efforts have “really stalled out,” Gounder said. The U.S. globally ranks 48th in terms of how much of the population is vaccinated. Many fewer Republicans have received at least one dose compared to Democrats and independents, according to recent polling data from the Kaiser Family Foundation COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor. (Santhanham, 9/30)
In other news about mandates —
Axios: Polk County's New Employee Vaccine Policy Takes Effect
Starting today, Polk County's 1,400 employees must show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or submit to weekly testing. Those who refuse both options will be considered insubordinate and face termination, county administrator John Norris told Axios this week. It's still too early to determine whether there might be an employee exodus linked with the new policy approved by county supervisors this month, he said. (Clayworth, 9/30)
Axios: Denver City Employee Vaccine Mandate Deadline Arrives
Time has run out. Denver Mayor Michael Hancock’s deadline has arrived for city workers and some "high-risk" private sector employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19. As of Wednesday, Hancock’s office said more than 600 employees were still out of compliance. They could face 10 days of unpaid leave, and termination, if they fail to prove they’re vaccinated by today without a religious or medical exemption. (Alvarez, 9/30)
AP: Mayor Apologizes For Backing Mask Critics' Holocaust Imagery
The mayor of Alaska’s largest city apologized Thursday for his comments supporting some residents’ use of Holocaust imagery to liken a proposed citywide mask mandate to the oppression of Jewish people in Nazi Germany. Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson has said he staunchly opposes the proposal and initially defended the use of yellow Stars of David worn by other critics this week at heated public hearings. Such imagery has been used by opponents of mask and vaccine mandates across the U.S., drawing condemnation from the Anti-Defamation League and other Jewish organizations. (10/1)
