Veterans Affairs officials say they are hiring new staffers at a blistering pace as they continue to respond to the ongoing coronavirus threat, but department critics say their opposition to hazard pay for those workers undercuts the positive news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier this week, VA officials announced that they hired 9,338 new medical staffers \u2014 including 2,147 registered nurses \u2014 during the month of April, a \u201crecord pace to bolster staff at (VA) facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Department leadership has faced scrutiny from lawmakers in recent months for the slow pace of hirings, resulting in nearly 50,000 vacancies across the 400,000-plus VA workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But following the coronavirus outbreak earlier this year, VA officials made an aggressive push to retired medical personnel and workers laid off from private-sector medical centers to quickly fill those posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\t