1,400 New York Healthcare Workers Fired For Refusing COVID-19 Vaccination

Illustration of a COVID-19 vaccination. (Wikimedia Commons/MDGovpics)

JAKARTA - New York State's largest healthcare provider, Northwell Health, has fired 1,400 employees who refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19, according to spokesman Joe Kemp.

Like other health care companies that recently laid off workers for not complying with vaccine mandates, the fired employees represent a small fraction of Northwell's workforce of more than 76,000, all of whom have received the COVID-19 vaccine.

New York's vaccination mandate for health workers went into effect last week. Several other states, including California, have enacted similar measures.

Officials have credited requirements with increasing vaccination rates, although a small number of employees have decided they would rather lose their jobs than get a COVID-19 vaccine.

Northwell announced its COVID-19 vaccination mandate in August, weeks ahead of state requirements. The company's mandate is extended to clinical and non-clinical workers.

"Our goal is not to lay off employees. Our goal is to get people vaccinated," Kemp said.

Kemp said the shutdown would have no impact on patient care at Northwell's 23 hospitals and other facilities.

"Northwell regrets losing employees under such circumstances," the company said in a statement.

"We owe it to our staff, our patients and the communities we serve to be 100 percent vaccinated against COVID-19," the company said.

Last month, President Joe Biden took aim at vaccine resistance in the United States, announced a policy requiring most federal employees to get a COVID-19 vaccine and encouraged major employers to have their workers vaccinated or tested weekly. The policy also applies to health workers.

The firm measures and tightening of mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations, which President Biden delivered in a speech from the White House, will apply to about two-thirds of all US employees, those working for businesses with more than 100 workers.

Under President Biden's plan, the government will also require vaccination of the more than 17 million health care workers in hospitals and other institutions participating in Medicare and Medicaid social programs for poor, disabled, and elderly Americans, senior government officials said.

"We've been patient. But our patience is running low, and your refusal is costing us all," President Joe Biden told the millions of Americans who refused to get a coronavirus shot last September 9.