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On Jan. 25, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) moved the deadline for the health care worker booster mandate to March 1.
Last month, CDPH issued a public health order that required all eligible workers to receive their booster on or before Feb. 1. The order also required twice-weekly testing for workers who are unvaccinated or who are vaccinated and due for a booster, but not currently boosted. As per the order’s FAQs, the testing regime should have been fully implemented as of Jan. 7.
CDPH moved the deadline due to challenges raised by the omicron variant, including the difficulty in administering booster doses to staff ill with omicron, as well as critical staffing shortages. This change gives hospitals an additional month to administer booster doses to their staff. Twice-weekly testing for workers who are unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated is still required by the public health order.