As much as some state leaders are attempting to stop the move to mandatory Covid vaccination for hospital workers (and for employees in other sectors), close to 25% of U.S. hospitals are requiring their staff to get ‘jabbed’ as a condition of employment. More than 96% of doctors have already been vaccinated, according to the American Medical Association, and 45% of those who have not plan to be. MailOnline has the story.
According to the American Hospital Association (AHA), around 1,500 hospitals have set vaccine mandates, reported CNN.
The vaccine requirements are controversial and have received backlash from employees, unions and even some governments.
Federally, it is legal for employers to demand their staff to get vaccinated, though individual states can – and have – passed laws banning vaccine mandates in the workplace.
The first major hospital system to institute this type of mandate was Houston Methodist Hospital system in Texas.
The hospital’s decision was met with backlash from employees, and 117 filed a joint lawsuit against the hospital.
Their effort was in vain with the lawsuit thrown out and more than 100 employees were either fired or resigned.
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, in New York City, also set a similar mandate, giving all of its employees until September 1st to get the shots or be terminated. …
These types of mandates are not legal everywhere, however.
In seven states, Arizona, Arkansas, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Tennessee and Utah, employers are not allowed to force their employees to get the vaccine to keep their jobs.
Advocates of mandatory vaccination for hospital workers employ the usual trick of comparing Covid to other viruses such as polio and smallpox.
“I cannot imagine passing any worse law than [banning vaccine mandates],” John Goodnow, CEO of Benefis Health in Great Falls, Montana, told CNN.
“Imagine if that would have been passed back when we were fighting polio, or smallpox before that.”
Benefis attempted to put a vaccine mandate in place in April, but its attempt was blocked by state legislators.
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