California Governor Gavin Newsom (Gavin Newsom) said on Wednesday that approximately 2.5 million health care workers in California must be vaccinated against the coronavirus by February 1, otherwise they will face the risk of unemployment.

Newsom provided more details on the booster vaccine authorization at a press conference held at a vaccine clinic in Oakland on Wednesday. He initially announced the new regulations on Tuesday afternoon.

California was the first state to require medical staff to be vaccinated, and the regulation took effect in September. Most workers complied. But thousands of others were either unemployed or suspended.

Now, California, along with New Mexico, has become at least the second state to require booster injections for its medical staff. Also this week, the two largest public university systems in the United States-California State University and the University of California-announced that students must undergo intensive training in the spring semester.

California also requires other groups to either be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing, including state staff, and ultimately teachers and students. But Newsom said on Wednesday that there are no plans to require other groups to receive booster injections.

Instead, he said California will provide up to two home-contained coronavirus test kits for each of the state’s more than 6.1 million public school students, and will extend the working hours of 6,288 state-operated testing centers.

However, Newsom said that the rules regarding booster shooting may change.

“Hopefully if all our interventions are successful, we don’t have to think about this,” Newsom said.

Compared with other states, California has done a better job of spreading the virus. Newsom said that of everyone tested for the virus in California, only 3.3% tested positive, which is the lowest in the country. California ranks sixth in the case rate, with 13.6 new cases per 100,000 people in 7 days.

As of Tuesday, there were 3,589 coronavirus patients hospitalized in California, an increase of 12% since December 1. But this is well below the peak of the surge last winter, when nearly 22,000 coronavirus patients returned in the state before the vaccine was widely available. Today, more than 70% of California’s approximately 40 million residents are fully vaccinated.

A lot of information about the omicron coronavirus variant is still unknown, including whether it will cause more or less serious illness. Scientists say that omicron spreads more easily than other coronavirus strains including delta. Early research shows that vaccinated people need to boost injections to get the best chance of preventing omicron infection, but even without additional doses, vaccination should still provide strong protection against serious illness and death.

Federal officials said on Monday that omicron is now the most common form of the virus in the United States, accounting for 73% of all cases. In California, state officials estimate that omicron accounts for about half of cases, but Newsom said the true number may be much higher and will be announced on Thursday.

California reported more than 10,900 new cases on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Los Angeles County, the nation’s most populous county with nearly 10 million residents, reported more than 6,500 new cases, more than double the number on Tuesday. Local health officials said that by the end of this year, the county may have more than 20,000 cases per day.

Barbara Ferrer, the county’s director of public health, said officials would not consider any booster requirements other than the state’s new regulations for health care workers. More than 2 million residents of Los Angeles County over the age of 5 have still not been vaccinated. 62% of residents eligible for booster injections did not do so.

So far, statewide, more than 8.8 million Californians have received booster injections.

Newsom said: “If we are to hold our ground and reduce hospital growth, we need to increase this number.”

Although there are far fewer coronavirus patients in hospitals than a year ago, most hospitals are struggling with a shortage of medical staff. A recent study by the University of California, San Francisco estimated that the statewide shortage of nurses will continue until at least 2026.

New regulations that strengthen injections can persuade more workers to resign. But the California Hospital Association said on Wednesday that it supports new regulations that “further protect medical staff and hospital patients.”

“Although we don’t know enough about Omicron to determine its exact impact on hospital care needs, we do know that enhanced injections provide an extra layer of protection-this is essential to ensuring that care is provided to all those in need like California It is vital that the entire country continues to face a continuing shortage of medical workers,” said Carmela Coyle, president and chief executive officer of the California Hospital Association.

The California Nurses Association said it is reviewing new regulations for health care workers. The organization stated in a press release that it strongly supports everyone being vaccinated while respecting medical and religious exemptions. But they said that other measures need to be taken to protect medical staff.

“Science has shown that taking multiple measures to control infection is the most effective, and vaccination is only one of them, although vital,” the organization said in a press release, calling on hospitals to provide more personal protective equipment and appropriate Staffing.