Some US hospital workers choose dismissal over vaccine
NEW YORK Jennifer Bridges loved her job as a nurse at Houston Methodist Hospital, where she worked for eight years, but she chose to get fired rather than inoculated against Covid-19, believing that the vaccine was more of a threat than the virus.
Ms Bridges was among about 150 employees who were fired or resigned at Methodist, the first large health system in the US to mandate vaccinations. About 25,000 other employees at the hospital system complied.
"I have never felt so strong about anything," said Ms Bridges, 39, who lives in Houston. She was terminated from her US$70,000 (S$95,000) a year post on June 21, the deadline for employees to get a jab.
"I did not feel there was proper research... It had been developed very quickly."
Houston Methodist is one of a growing number of private employers that have made vaccinations a requirement of the job.
New York and California are among US states that have required vaccinations for healthcare workers.
The mandates have proven to be effective in boosting vaccination rates in healthcare.
In New York, Governor Kathy Hochul on Thursday said 92 per cent of the state's more than 625,000 healthcare workers were inoculated, up from 73 per cent on Aug 16 when former Governor Andrew Cuomo laid down a Sept 27 deadline for them to get the shot.
Even so, there are pockets of resistance in the US healthcare field. Those interviewed by Reuters said they had been immunised for other diseases, but said a lack of long-term data on the three Covid-19 vaccines available in the country was reason enough for them to step into an uncertain future after years of job security.
Bob Nevens, 47, Houston Methodist's top risk manager for 10 years, also prefers to take his chances with Covid-19 rather than take a vaccine. As a consequence, he became one of the country's first workplace mandate casualties in April.
"Financially, I'm fine," he said. "Mentally, it's exhausting, because I didn't want to make that decision. I had planned on retiring from Houston Methodist." - REUTERS
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