The covid vaccine mandate is causing a mass exodus among health care workers all over the world. Now, it’s been just revealed by Press Herald that there are hundreds of health care workers in Maine who are leaving their jobs over the covid vaccine mandate.
The online publication mentioned above notes that as the mandate by Gov. Janet Mills that health care workers must be vaccinated against covid takes full effect this is what’s been happening:
“hundreds of workers at hospitals and other health care providers are resigning or getting fired for refusing the shot. But most are choosing to get vaccinated rather than lose their jobs.”
Acute staffing shortages
It’s important to note the fact that the mandate took effect Friday and now health care systems are trying to replace workers in a labor market plagued by acute staffing shortages.
The same online publication notes the fact that at major hospital systems such as MaineHealth and Northern Light Health, compliance rates were at about 98% or higher. On the other hand, Central Maine Healthcare’s compliance rate was about 95 percent.
Just in case you don’t know, MaineHealth is the parent company of Maine Medical Center in Portland and seven other hospitals in the state. According to the latest official reports, this is expected to lose about 350 to 400 workers – these represent about 1.5 to 2 percent of the health system’s 23,000-employee workforce.
The same notes reveal that Steven Littleson, the president, and CEO of Central Maine Healthcare in Lewiston stated the following:
“It will take a long time to replace 156 experienced team members.”
Littleson continued and said this:
“In the meantime, the staffing crisis has led us to temporarily suspend inpatient pediatric admissions and our Special Care Nursery. We continue to deliver babies of 35 weeks or more of gestational age rather than 32 weeks and up. We are evaluating other services on a shift-to-shift basis, including our ability to accommodate elective surgery.”
There’s been a massive debate all over the world about mandatory covid vaccines and the necessity of the green corona pass in public places for people who are not vaccinated for one reason or another.
Stay tuned for more news and make sure that you and your loved ones remain safe.
