TAMPA, Fla. — Wednesday is the final day for health care workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
The federal mandate goes into effect Thursday. Even though Florida dropped the case challenging the requirement, Christina Pushaw, press secretary for Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state law banning vaccine mandates still stands.
The tug of war between the federal requirement and the Florida state law leaves some health care systems and providers in limbo.
While the Sunshine State is blowing off the mandate, Florida hospitals might opt to be in compliance with the federal mandate out of fear of loss of funding.
As part of the federal requirement, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will ensure compliance through established survey and enforcement processes. If a provider doesn't meet these requirements, funding could be in jeopardy.
Kate Johnson is a nurse who recently moved from Washington, DC to Florida. She's currently pregnant with her second child and in between jobs but fears her nursing license could be revoked because she refuses to get vaccinated.
"All I could see was [there are] unknowns. Maybe there’s risk, maybe there’s not but [there are] enough unknowns that I did not feel comfortable especially while being pregnant to get the vaccine," Johnson said.
She is hoping to get her Florida nursing license and go back to work after she has her baby, a goal she fears is in jeopardy if her current nursing license in Washington, DC is revoked for disciplinary action.
"The Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to do this to 100 million other people, but I guess unconstitutional rights don’t mean as much when you work in health care," Johnson said.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration withdrew a rule that would have required vaccine or test mandates for companies with at least 100 people after the court blocked those plans earlier this month.
The Supreme Court, however, left in place the vaccine mandate for health care providers who receive federal funding. Health care workers who have not yet received their shots will have an additional month to become fully vaccinated.
In an e-mail to 10 Tampa Bay, Pushaw said, "AHCA will not be surveying for compliance with the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandate, which is exacerbating shortages of health care workers in other states where it is enforced."
AHCA or Agency for Health Care Administration is Florida's state agency that oversees hospitals and assisted living facilities.
It's unclear if and when the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services would withhold funding for providers not following the federal requirement.
10 Tampa Bay reached out to hospital systems in the Tampa Bay area asking about the hospital's compliance with the mandate:
"BayCare has met the CMS requirements for Jan. 27 and is working toward full compliance under the CMS rule," hospital leaders explained in an email. "More than 90 percent of our team members have at least one dose of the vaccine or have requested an exemption from the COVID-19 vaccination, above the required 80 percent threshold for the January deadline."
Leaders at Tampa General Hospital also responded in an email.
"As a condition of participation in federal health care programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, Tampa General Hospital is required to comply with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers," hospital leaders wrote. "We are in compliance with the requirements due by Jan. 27 and have a plan in place to satisfy the federal mandate.
"Currently, over 80% of TGH’s health care workers are fully vaccinated. The safety and care of our patients, team members, physicians and community is our number one priority."
AdventHealth leaders wrote in an email that close to all team members are in compliance with the vaccine mandate.
"Based on scientific evidence and what we see in our hospitals every day, COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective at reducing both the risk of becoming infected and the level of harm in the case of a breakthrough infection," the hospital wrote in a statement. "As part of our commitment to protecting the health and well-being of our team members, patients and communities, we strongly encourage all of our team members to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
"Currently, 96% of our team members are in compliance with the CMS vaccine mandate. We intend to be in compliance with the legal requirements and continue to monitor developments impacting its enforcement."