On August 16, The New York State Department of Health announced that all health care workers in the state of New York would need to receive at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine by September 27, 2021, or they would lose their jobs. Even before that announcement, New York’s governor made his own announcement.

On July 28, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that all patient-facing healthcare workers at state-run hospitals would need to get vaccinated by Labor Day.

Labor Day has come and gone and many health care workers have quit their jobs. Now, the September 27th deadline is quickly approaching, and there are still quite a few unvaccinated health care workers who may lose their jobs if they choose not to get vaccinated. That leaves hospitals in a tricky situation, and one hospital even plans to “pause” the delivery of babies due to staffing issues.

Lewis County General Hospital is located in Lowville, New York, and this hospital alone has had 30 employees resign due to the vaccine mandate. Six of those employees were in the maternity unit. Throughout the Lewis County Health System, there are currently 165 employees who have yet to be vaccinated for Covid-19. 

Gerald Cayer is the chief executive of the Lewis County Health System. He explained, “We have two weeks remaining for 165 staff to receive the first dose of the vaccine. And at the same time, we must develop contingency plans for services we believe are at risk. We can’t wait to the last minute. We have not been given much time, and it is a hard deadline before us.”

If employees don’t get vaccinated, the plan is to move vaccinated employees from administrative roles to critical roles. Cayer is hopeful that at least some of the 165 employees will get vaccinated and that some that have resigned will change their minds.

In the meantime, the maternity unit at Lewis County General Hospital is pausing the delivery of babies while the hospital tries to recruit new nurses who are vaccinated. Watch the video below for more details.

Even though the vaccine mandate is causing staffing issues, Cayer is still in favor of the mandate. He explained, “The mandate ensures we will have a healthy workforce, and that we are not responsible for transmission in or out of our facilities.”

Do you think some of the unvaccinated hospital employees will choose to get vaccinated in order to keep their jobs? Does it surprise you that so many hospital employees would rather lose their jobs than get vaccinated?