California says all health care workers must be vaccinated, scraps COVID testing alternative

Health care workers in California must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of September and will no longer be able to test out of the requirement under a new health order from California Public Health Officer Tomás J. Aragón.

The new rule applies to a long list of health care facilities including hospitals, nursing homes, doctors offices and clinics. It does not include dental offices.

Gov. Gavin Newsom previously announced that health care workers must get vaccinated or submit to weekly testing, but this new order will eliminate the testing option starting Sept. 30 and instead require everyone to be vaccinated unless they have a religious or medical exemption.

California is the first state to impose such a mandate, according to the California Department of Public Health.

A separate order will require visitors to hospitals and nursing homes to show either proof of vaccination or proof of recent negative tests for COVID-19.

The new requirements come as the highly infections delta variant rages through California, where 63% of eligible people are fully vaccinated and another 10% partially vaccinated.

“California is currently experiencing the fastest increase in COVID-19 cases during the entire pandemic with 18.3 new cases per 100,000 people per day, with case rates increasing ninefold within two months,” Aragón wrote in the new vaccine order. “The delta variant is highly transmissible and may cause more severe illness.”

Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health have already announced vaccine mandates for their workers.

California Hospital Association President Carmela Coyle praised the state’s announcement.

“Gov. Newsom’s call today for a vaccine mandate for every California health care worker is an important step in the long battle we face against COVID-19 and the multiple variants that have emerged over the past several months,” she wrote in a statement. “It’s vital that we do all we can to protect vulnerable patients and those who care for them from this deadly virus.”

SEIU-UHW, a union representing more than 100,000 health care workers, released a statement saying the union understands why its workers are being required to get vaccinated, but argues state government needs to give its members bonuses for the sacrifice they are making.

“What is missing from this announcement is long overdue recognition and appreciation from the governor and the state of California to these very same healthcare workers,” the union wrote in a statement. “As case numbers surge, we are being required to carry yet another unique burden most Californians are not. We should be treated as the essential employees we are by simultaneously being acknowledged and rewarded with hero bonuses.”

This story was originally published August 5, 2021 at 4:25 PM with the headline "California says all health care workers must be vaccinated, scraps COVID testing alternative."