BREAKING NEWS: After HTC’s Advocacy, Gov. Cuomo Expands Vaccine Eligibility for Hotel Workers in New York

February 26, 2021 9:57 PM

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After months of advocacy by HTC President Rich Maroko and our political team, New York Governor Cuomo announced this afternoon that New York State will expand the current vaccine eligibility to include hotel workers. The order enables local health departments to include hotel workers in their vaccination programs, and the next step is for New York City’s health department to do so.

Thousands of HTC members have served on the front lines of this pandemic while their hotels have been housing traveling doctors and nurses, overflow patients from nearby hospitals, COVID-positive New Yorkers who need to safely isolate, and the homeless and others who live in congregate settings. Despite the series of strict Coronavirus Safety Agreements that our Union has negotiated over the course of this pandemic, due to the nature of their work and their close contact with high-risk and COVID-positive individuals, many of our members have still been exposed to the Coronavirus regularly on the job.

"Our Union has been advocating for hotel workers to be added to the list of groups eligible for the vaccine for several months” remarked HTC President Rich Maroko. “Today’s order by Governor Cuomo is the critical first step towards enabling our members to continue performing their essential duties safely and with greater peace of mind.”

HTC is now communicating with New York City officials to advocate for vaccines to be made available to hotel workers as soon as possible. We will provide updates via our website and the Union’s text alerts once we have more details about vaccine distribution.