By Chris Miller, Assistant Editor, Facility Market

California is requiring its roughly 2.2 million healthcare workers to be fully vaccinated starting Sept. 30, according to NPR. The requirement is being called the first in its kind in the nation. The announcement comes as states and healthcare organizations debate vaccination mandates.

California’s order is being applied to paid and unpaid workers in health care facilities including those who provide services or work in hospitals, nursing facilities, psychiatric hospitals, clinics and doctor's offices. It also incorporates dialysis centers, residential substance use treatment centers and a few other types of facilities. There are exceptions for people who decline the vaccine due to religious belief or workers who cannot receive it due to qualifying medical reasons backed up by a licensed medical professional.

A growing number of healthcare workers are among the new positive cases even though they were prioritized at the beginning of the pandemic. Recent outbreaks in health care settings have often been traced back to unvaccinated workers. California is currently seeing the fastest increase in new cases since the pandemic’s start, according to JC Post. The state is averaging 18.3 new cases per 100,000 people a day. The more contagious Delta variant stands as the reason for the majority of cases. 63 percent of residents 12 years and older have been fully vaccinated with another 10 percent having had at least one dose as of August 5.

The nation is already facing a health care staffing crisis as workers around the country are going on strike or being fired from their jobs. One study from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 3 in 10 medical professionals are considering leaving their jobs due to exhaustion from dealing with the pandemic for so long. The United States is witnessing more than 90,000 new infections per day, according to the CDC. Due to the increased spread from the Delta variant, the CDC is estimating about 9,000 new deaths from coronavirus by late August.