COVID-19 and the more transmissible Delta-variant of COVID-19 are continuously spreading throughout the nation. Health care workers across all states are working hard to control and combat the spread of the virus by administering vaccinations to the masses. This is no easy feat and so far, at the time of this blog post, only around 60% of the adult population are considered to be fully vaccinated. Health care workers, who are on the front lines of combatting this virus, are at a higher risk for getting COVID-19 due to frequent and prolonged exposure to the virus. In response to this, the federal government has already issued a vaccine mandate for federal nurses and a state-by-state vaccine mandate for nurses has been slowly rolling out. A vaccine mandate changes a lot of things for our nation’s nurses and the purpose of this blog is to give you additional insight on the state-by-state vaccine mandate.
The Mandatory Vaccine Mandate for Nurses
The COVID-19 vaccinations have been scientifically proven to be effective in managing the spread of COVID-19. However, the virus, and its variants, continues to spread–especially amongst those in the population who have not been vaccinated. After trying and exhausting many avenues to encourage people to get vaccinated, state officials are escalating things and turning to statewide mandates to get the vaccine administered.
At this time, there is not a mandatory COVID-19 vaccine mandate across all fifty states for nurses. However, following suit with the federal vaccine mandate, that could be changing very quickly. As the COVID-19 infection rates continue to rise, more and more states are mandating that healthcare workers, such as nurses, must get fully vaccinated against the virus or get tested and show proof of a negative COVID-19 test every week in order to remain employed.
Currently, there is a lot of contradictory information circulating on the vaccine mandate and it may be difficult to keep things straight–particularly for those who work across different states. A great resource, and one that will tell you of the mandatory vaccine mandate on a state-by-state basis can be accessed here. Though this is a great resource for state-related information, it does not have information on local guidance, which may differ.
What Does The Mandatory Vaccine Mandate Mean for SPNN Nurses?
At SPNN, the health and safety of our front-line nurses and patients are our top priority. We truly value all of our employees and patients. While we encourage everyone to get vaccinated to help continue stopping the spread, we understand that there are some people who do not feel comfortable getting the vaccine. However, when there is a state mandate for the vaccine that concerns nurses, we encourage you to abide by the state mandate and either get vaccinated or continue to get tested weekly for COVID-19 to stay in compliance with your state’s mandate.
We believe that together we can help stop the spread of COVID-19 and together we can get through this pandemic.
