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State Operated Health Facilities Will Require Employee COVID-19 Vaccinations

TED S. WARREN/AP

North Carolina's Division of State Operated Health Facilities (DSOHF) sent a directive to affected healthcare workers that they will need to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 by the end of September.

The memorandum cites the predominance of the COVID-19 delta variant strain and follows the recommendation from the North Carolina Healthcare Association that healthcare workers be vaccinated.

The memo was released by the office of House Speaker Tim Moore.

Moore included a statement saying that he has been vaccinated and has been urging others to do so.

But he added that healthcare workers are able to make their own decision about the vaccine and should not “be bullied into being vaccinated against their will.”

DSOHF operates 14 healthcare facilities that treat adults and children with mental illness, developmental disabilities, substance use disorders, and neuro-medical needs. None are located in the Triad, but area healthcare systems have said they will follow the healthcare association's recommendations. 

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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