New York’s new Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the nearly 20 percent of workers at hospitals and nursing homes refusing to get vaccinated would be replaced — potentially by foreign workers once the state’s mandate takes effect next week.
Hochul announced to reporters at a press conference in Rochester. She said she hopes all unvaccinated employees meet Monday’s deadline, but she revealed she has a plan if they don’t.
“To those who won’t, we’ll be replacing people. And I have a plan that’s going to be announced very shortly,” she warned.
“We’ve identified a whole range of opportunities we have to help supplement them,” she added.
Hochul revealed that the state is “working closely with various hospital systems to find out where we can get other individuals to come in and supplement places like nursing homes.”
“We’re also reaching out to the Department of State to find out about visas for foreign workers, on a limited basis, to bring more nurses over here,” she explained.
After Monday’s deadline, employers can fire any workers who don’t have a “valid medical exemption” for not getting the shots.
