THE OTHER SIDE OF THE VACCINE MANDATE COIN

Another possible challenge for hospitals: staff who won’t get vaccinated, and quit over mandates.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on Monday said she backed vaccine mandates for health care workers but admitted that resulting staff shortages could present a challenge.

What she said: “We have seen that these vaccine mandates get more people vaccinated,” Walensky said in an appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

“It absolutely creates a challenge,” Walensky added. “What I would say is [we need] to do some work, to educate these health care workers, to meet them where they are, to understand where their hesitancy is so we can get them vaccinated and get them back to work.”

Context: The CDC director’s praise for mandates came the day of New York’s deadline for health care workers to get vaccinated, as the governor’s office said about 16 percent of the state’s medical workers continue to resist the shot.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) is set to sign an executive order allowing her to activate the National Guard and out-of-state health care workers to fill the roles of the unvaccinated workers who missed the deadline.