COVID-19

The following questions were posed to the NJ Department of Health pertaining to EO 325.  Please see their answers below:

Question? If an employee was let go because they were not vaccinated and didn’t apply for religious or medical exemption can they now be hired. Understanding that they are considered non compliant.

Answer. Section 3 of the EO requires that “3. Health care settings shall continue to be required to maintain a policy that requires covered workers to provide adequate proof that they are up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations pursuant to Executive Order No. 252 (2021) and Nos. 283, 290, and 294 (2022), and Paragraph 2 of Executive Order No. 281 (2022).”

Section 8 of the EO requires that “8. For purposes of this Order, consistent with the definition provided by Executive Order No. 294 (2022), a covered worker of a health care setting shall be considered “up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations” if they have received a primary series, which consists of either a 2-dose series of an mRNA COVID[1]19 or protein subunit vaccine, or a single dose viral vector COVID[1]19 vaccine, and the first booster dose for which they are eligible as recommended by the CDC. Covered workers of health care settings will only be considered up to date with their vaccinations when they have received a COVID-19 vaccine that is currently authorized for emergency use by the FDA or the World Health Organization, or that are approved for use by the same. Covered workers of health care settings who are not up to date with their vaccinations, or for whom vaccination status is unknown or who have not provided sufficient proof of documentation, must be considered noncompliant”

Still effective is the provision of EO 283, which required that “The policies adopted by covered settings pursuant to this Order must include a disciplinary process for covered workers’ noncompliance, which may include termination of employment.” Facilities should continue to follow their disciplinary process. This is not new and facilities should continue to follow the disciplinary processes that were established for covered workers’ noncompliance.

Question?  Confirming that If healthcare worker has a religious or medical exemption so is unvaccinated under past EO they need to test at least once a week (or twice if community transmission is high). Under EO 325 I want to confirm that the testing is no longer needed unless employer wants it.

Answer. Correct, routine testing, even of the non-vaccinated, is no longer required. However, if an employer would like to test, they are certainly allowed to conduct the testing.