While other governors are declaring COVID-19 over, and hospitals all over the nation are experiencing a staffing shortage stemming largely from vaccine mandates, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey reissued an executive order allowing Arizona hospitals to require employees to be vaccinated.
The governor’s order comes at a time when, according to experts, the loss of healthcare staff in response to the vaccine mandate has left the public at greater risk than from the virus itself.
This week, 12 News report also revealed that Ducey’s Vaccine Czar, former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona, who sits on the board of one of the largest vaccine distribution companies, is being paid approximately $400 an hour by the State of Arizona to promote the vaccine through the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Apparently recognizing the problem his order would exacerbate, the Governor also issued grants totally $35.2 million to the hospitals to help them with their ongoing staffing shortage struggles.
As expected, immediately after the governor quietly reissued the executive order, the hospitals thanked him for bailing them out once again:
The #AZ healthcare system is under an immense amount of strain right now.
Thank you, Governor @dougducey for listening and taking action – extending nursing support to hospitals and providing funding for additional dialysis treatment and staffing for post-acute care beds.
— AzHHA (@azhospitalassn) December 15, 2021
Ducey is doling out $35.2 million to the hospitals, which are struggling due to the staffing shortage they created.