CA To Require Vaccines For All Health Care Workers

CALIFORNIA — The state plans to require health care workers to get vaccinated by Sept. 30. Unvaccinated staff members have been increasingly to blame for recent outbreaks at health care facilities.

The new rules come just over a week after Gov. Gavin Newsom announced plans to require health care workers to get vaccinated or submit to weekly COVID-19 testing. The state reversed course Thursday and determined that health care workers must get the vaccine, according to an order signed by Tomás J. Aragón, state public health officer.

The news comes as California endures the fastest increase in COVID-19 cases that it's seen during the pandemic because of the highly transmissible delta variant, which may also cause more severe illness, according to the order. The Golden State reported more than 18 new cases per 100,000 residents per day, and cases have increased ninefold within two months.

Newsom and other officials called the latest surge a "pandemic of the unvaccinated." Unvaccinated people are more likely to get sick and spread the coronavirus.

"Increasing numbers of health care workers are among the new positive cases, despite vaccinations being prioritized for this group when vaccines initially became available," the order said.

Workers must be vaccinated if they work in health care settings including hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, intermediate care facilities, psychiatric hospitals, adult day cares, ambulatory surgery centers, substance abuse treatment centers, clinics, doctor's offices, dialysis centers, hospice facilities and mental health facilities, according to the order.

Workers may be exempted if they sign a declaration stating that they will not get the vaccine because of religious beliefs or a medical exemption. Anyone seeking a medical exemption must also give his employer a written statement signed by a doctor, nurse or other medical professional.

In health care facilities, there "is frequent exposure to staff and highly vulnerable patients, including elderly, chronically ill, critically ill, medically fragile, and disabled patients," the order said. "In many of these settings, the patients are at high risk of severe COVID-19 disease due to underlying health conditions, advanced age, or both."

Last week, Newsom called California's vaccine verification plan the strongest of its kind in the nation. California's 246,000 state employees must get vaccinated or submit to weekly testing, and several employers have also enacted restrictions.

At that time, the governor said COVID-19 case rates were 600 percent higher among unvaccinated Californians.

He also announced officials were monitoring "sobering projections" should current trends continue, including a significant increase in hospitalizations that could put pressure on health care systems across the state.

Read the full order, and sign up for a COVID-19 vaccine.

See also: CA To Require Vaccines Or Testing For Health Care, State Workers