LI medical experts hope full Pfizer approval convinces COVID-vaccine hesitant

Medical experts on Long Island hailed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's full approval Monday of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, saying they hope it prompts people who have not received their shots to get them.

Human resources consultants said they expect more companies to mandate shots, something a growing number of employers nationwide already are doing, while some Long Island teachers union leaders expressed optimism that full approval would increase vaccination rates.

SUNY moved quickly on the news, announcing that all commuter students to their schools now must be vaccinated. The state system already had mandated that all students living in dormitories have to be vaccinated.

Outgoing Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, on his last day in office Monday ahead of his resignation, called on all employers to mandate vaccination for their workers.

The approval "eliminates any doubt in the science and efficacy of COVID vaccines," he said, adding that it was "past time for pleading and cajoling."

Dr. Mark Jarrett, senior vice president and chief quality officer at Northwell Health, welcomed the full approval of the vaccine.

"We’re very happy that it’s approved," he said. "It confirms the fact that we’ve felt all along that it is a safe vaccine and a necessary vaccine.

"We hope that there is a segment of the population that is unvaccinated [that] will feel more secure now that it’s been approved and therefore will go and get vaccinated because we need as much of the public as possible vaccinated," he added.

The approval by the FDA comes as COVID-19 cases surge across Long Island and throughout the country because of the delta variant. It marks the first licensing of a vaccine for the coronavirus — until now the Pfizer-BioNTech shot has been used under emergency authorization.

Some Long Island teachers union officials said the full approval would not have a big impact since most of their members are already vaccinated. Others said they hoped the approval would provide enough encouragement to the hesitant for mandates to be avoided.

"I just feel as though it can alleviate some of the hesitancy that some people have in regards to whether it is safe or not," said Nakia Wolf, head of the teachers union in Amityville.

Imposing a mandate in the vein of New York City's announcement on Monday of that requirement for teachers and staff would be a "possibly problematic piece," Wolf added.

He said some teachers and staff do not want the shots, and it would be concerning for the union if they got fired for not complying with the mandate.

But Jarrett said that just like with mandatory vaccines for measles, chickenpox and other diseases, mandatory COVID-19 vaccines would help keep the population safe.

"I think there is going to be more and more push to mandate, because delta will not be the last variant that comes down the pike. And each variant poses higher and higher risks," he said.

"We already immunize children for multiple diseases, and that has saved tens of thousands of lives," he added. "I think this is another vaccine where that is necessary."

SUNY officials said students will have a 35-day grace period to provide proof of vaccination or submit a request for a medical or religious exemption for campus review. Professors and staff are not required to be vaccinated.

At Stony Brook University, Farmingdale State College and SUNY Old Westbury, along with Nassau and Suffolk community colleges, the mandate had been suspended for commuter students until a vaccine was fully approved. Dorm residents and team and club athletes were already required to get vaccinated before returning to campus.

Katy Tatzel, a spokesperson for Farmingdale State, said: "A total of 5,100 students have currently uploaded their proof of vaccination, which is about 57% of our student body as of this morning. We have hundreds more coming in daily," she said Monday. "We do expect a high level of compliance."

Stony Brook University's website says that as of Aug. 19, the overall vaccination rate for those registered in at least one in-person class was 87%, with 97% of residential students vaccinated. Numbers were expected to be higher on Monday, the first day of classes.

The FDA’s announcement is likely to have an impact on human resources operations at businesses across the Island and beyond, HR professional John Coverdale said.

"We’re already seeing more new job postings that are requiring proof of vaccination," said Coverdale, president of the Center for Workplace Solutions, a Bayport HR management consulting firm.

Coverdale said businesses with in-person operations have been increasingly willing to put vaccine mandates in place following Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidance earlier this year, but that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine approval gives business leaders a greater degree of confidence in implementing vaccine policies.

"It just makes them [HR management] less uncertain," he said, adding that mandates were already increasing in the wake of the delta variant’s spread.

"The variant has been a game changer," Coverdale said. "Think about all that has changed in the last two months in terms of vaccinations."

The transit agency that manages the Long Island Rail Road previously announced that, beginning on Labor Day, all of its 68,000 employees will have to be vaccinated, or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing.

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