纽约市健康工人将被要求接种疫苗新冠肺炎(新型冠状病毒肺炎)或接受每周检测,市长比尔·白思豪在周三的新闻发布会上宣布。
“三角洲变种继续制造越来越多的麻烦,我们必须反击,”德布拉西奥说。“我们需要一个强有力的、明确的方法——我们的每个工人每周都接种疫苗或接受检测。”
新规定将于8月2日生效,将适用于城市医院的所有员工和卫生部门的临床工作者。该市计划在未来几周内将新规定推广到更多的卫生部门工作人员。这些员工将被要求出示疫苗接种证明或阴性检测结果。
市长强调,新规定是保持城市安全的又一步,不会影响基层的努力,如移动站点和在家接种疫苗,以提高普通人群的疫苗接种率。从技术上讲,新规定不是疫苗强制要求,因为员工可以选择每周接受一次测试。
“这些员工中的每一个人都有选择,”德·布拉西奥补充说,并指出接种疫苗是两种选择中更好的一种。“这是为了保护人们的安全,阻止三角洲变异。”
纽约市普通人群的疫苗接种率略高于全国平均水平。根据美国疾病控制和预防中心的数据,截至周二,58%的纽约市居民至少接种了一剂疫苗,54%的人完全接种了疫苗,相比之下,56%的美国人至少接种了一剂疫苗,49%的人完全接种了疫苗市卫生局还有疾病控制和预防中心。
医院工作人员接种疫苗的比例往往高于普通人群,尽管纽约市医院工作人员完全接种疫苗的比例(70%)略低于全州平均水平(74%),根据国家卫生部的说法。
New COVID rule for New York City health workers: Get vaccinated or tested weekly
New York Cityhealthworkers will be required to get vaccinated forCOVID-19or undergo weekly testing, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced during a Wednesday news conference.
"The delta variant continues to make more and more trouble, and we've got to fight back," de Blasio said. "We need a strong, clear approach -- that every single one of our workers gets vaccinated or tested weekly."
The new rules, which will go into effect on Aug. 2, will apply to all employees at city-run hospitals and clinical workers for the health department. The city plans to extend the new rules to additional health department staff in coming weeks. Those employees will be required to show proof of vaccination or a negative test result.
The mayor stressed that the new rules are an additional step to keep the city safe and won't take away from grassroots efforts, such as mobile sites and at-home vaccinations, to raise vaccination rates in the general population. The new rule isn't technically a vaccine mandate, since employees have the option to get tested each week.
"Every single one of those employees has a choice," added de Blasio, noting that a vaccination was the better of the two options. "This is about keeping people safe and stopping the delta variant."
Vaccination rates in New York City's general population are slightly above the national average. As of Tuesday, 58% of New York City residents had received at least one dose and 54% were fully vaccinated, compared with 56% of all Americans who've gotten at least one shot and 49% who are fully vaccinated, according to data from thecity health departmentand theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention.
Hospital workers tend to be vaccinated at a higher rate than the general population, although the percentage of fully vaccinated New York City hospital workers (70%) is slightly lower than the statewide average (74%),according to the state health department.