New York’s largest health care provider, Northwell Health, recently fired nearly 2,000 workers who refused to get the coronavirus vaccine. This came after Governor Kathy Hochul enforced a policy requiring New York health care workers to receive at least one dose of the vaccine or risk being fired.
Northwell Health’s vaccine mandate goes beyond the state mandate, though, requiring both clinical and non-clinical staff to get vaccinated. Let’s establish one thing: We absolutely need as many people as possible to take the COVID-19 vaccine to stop – or at the very least slow – the spread of the virus. The science and statistics prove this. Still, is now the time for a mass firing of health care workers?
There is something undeniably concerning about health care workers knowing that the vaccine slows the spread of the virus and yet, they still don’t do their part to slow the disease they are working to annihilate. However, it’s arguably even more concerning for New York State to possibly face shortages of hospital staff during a time when the virus is still a threat. This whole policy is about decreasing the number of COVID-19 cases and, more importantly, the number of deaths, right? Well, how do we prevent death if hospitals become understaffed to the point they can’t adequately provide care to patients? Hochul’s plan relies on retired nurses and students if hospitals find themselves in that predicament. It sounds like she’s aware of the mandate’s flaws but too stubborn to reconsider.
Not to mention, we are still anticipating how the COVID-19 variants will affect the country. And hospitals might need all hands on deck, especially now that we are about to face our first fully reopened winter with the coronavirus still out there.
This vaccine mandate also isn’t so great solely from a PR standpoint. Now that Hochul and Northwell Health have given attention to around 2,000 health care workers who would rather be out of a job with possibly no unemployment benefits than become inoculated, people will be more wary. There are anti-vaxxers out there looking for any opportunity to point out vaccine-related injustices for the sake of their baseless case. Now that they’re seeing health care workers, of all people, being forced to take the vaccine instead of voluntarily immunizing themselves, it will undoubtedly reappear as anti-vaccine propaganda. As much as it pains me to say, I think the state would have been better off leaving health care workers unvaccinated if they were quiet and didn’t spread further misinformation. It isn’t right for people who work in the field of saving lives to not do their part, but it also isn’t a good look to threaten their jobs so they take the shot. Yes, there will now be less unvaccinated people in the health care industry, but this only reaffirms their decision to remain unvaccinated.
In a recent survey conducted by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, it was found that out of 6,000 critical care nurses surveyed, 66% have considered leaving their jobs due to the pandemic. Nurses are burned out, and this policy isn’t raising their spirits. People generally respond better to encouragement than threats. While I recognize that the idea of basically babying unvaccinated medical professionals into inoculation is frustrating and exhausting – as the government and CDC still have yet to convince much of the country – it might be the most efficient and ethical way to motivate the overall population.
Creating incentives for people to get the vaccine is great, but firing almost 2,000 health care workers who didn’t take the vaccine is questionable and extreme, with unattractive consequences only adding to the unrest and damage the pandemic has already caused.
