Six supervisor-level employees of one of New Jersey’s largest health care systems were recently fired for refusing to get vaccinated from COVID-19.
In May, RWJ Barnabas Health required its supervisory employees to get vaccinated by June 30. Of that cohort of RWJ Barnabas workers, nearly 3,000, or 99.7%, were fully vaccinated by July 14, according to The Associated Press (AP). Other members of the force were able to get medical or religious exemptions or deferrals. However, the six employees that refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine without any such type of exemption were fired, The AP reported.
BREAKING REPORT: New Jersey Hospital System RWJBarnabas Health FIRES 6 EMPLOYEES who did not FOLLOW ORDERS and get vaccinated..
— Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) July 21, 2021
RWJBarnabas boasts 35,000 employees across its healthcare system with 9,000 affiliated doctors and was the first health system in the state to require certain employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine or face termination, according to The AP. Since RWJ Barnabas’ decision to mandate COVID-19 vaccines, other health care providers in the state have followed suit, The AP noted. (RELATED: Federal Judge Refuses To Stop Vaccine Mandate From Indiana University)
“A half-dozen senior health-care workers who refused to comply with a New Jersey hospital system’s coronavirus vaccine mandate have been fired, the latest example of a company taking action against those who push back against vaccine policies.”https://t.co/AR77zbPNYz
— Amit Paranjape (@aparanjape) July 22, 2021
The six employees fired by RWJBarnabas were not the first fired after refusing a vaccine. More than 150 Houston Methodist hospital system employees were fired or resigned while they were suspended for not getting the vaccine. The workers who refused the vaccine sued the hospital system over their vaccine requirements and deadlines, but their lawsuit was ultimately dismissed. Of the Houston Methodist hospital system’s 25,000 employees, 99% were vaccinated with at least one dose by the hospital’s June deadline.