TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order Friday mandating that all workers in state and private health care facilities either be vaccinated for COVID-19 or tested for it twice a week.
The order institutes that the workers must be vaccinated by Sept. 7 or face the testing.
“With the spread of the Delta variant working its way across the country and New Jersey, our most vulnerable populations remain at risk of serious illness or death due to exposure to unvaccinated individuals,” said Gov. Murphy in a statement. “Requiring workers in health care and high-risk congregate settings to receive COVID-19 vaccinations or rigorous testing will help prevent outbreaks and reduce transmission to vulnerable populations that may be at higher risk of severe disease. I am grateful to our union partners across both the public and private sectors, officials within impacted industries, and members of our cabinet for their collaboration as we put this new requirement into effect.”
The settings the state will mandate employees be vaccinated in include:
- Acute, pediatric, inpatient rehabilitation, and psychiatric hospitals, including specialty hospitals, and ambulatory surgical centers
- Long-term care facilities, including the state Veterans Homes
- Intermediate care facilities, including the state developmental centers
- Residential detox, short term and long term residential substance abuse disorder treatment facilities
- Clinic-based settings like ambulatory care, urgent care clinics, dialysis centers, Federally Qualified Health Centers, family planning sites, and Opioid Treatment Programs
- Community-based healthcare settings including Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly, and pediatric and adult medical day care programs
- Licensed home health agencies and registered health care service firms operating within the State
- State and county correctional facilities
- Secure care facilities operated by the Juvenile Justice Commission
- Licensed community residences for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI)
- Licensed community residences for adults with mental illness; and
- Certified day programs for individuals with IDD and TBI
Full and part-time employees, contractors and other individuals working in those settings like custodial or administrative employees.
Workers are considered “fully vaccinated” for COVID-19 two weeks or more after they have received the second dose in a two-dose series or two weeks or more after they have received a single-dose vaccine. Individuals will only be considered fully vaccinated where they have received a COVID-19 vaccine that is currently authorized for emergency use by the FDA or the WHO, or that are approved for use by the same.
