Source: Patch.com
The second largest hospital system in New Jersey has confirmed it fired 118 employees who refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine, In total, 124 RWJ Barnabas staffers have been fired for refusing to get the vaccine.
RWJ Barnabas gave its 35,000 employees a deadline of Oct. 15 to present proof of vaccination. So far, more than 99 percent of its staff has gotten the shot.
Gov. Phil Murphy has not required any health care worker be vaccinated for COVID-19. What he did put in place was that, starting Sept. 7, all health care workers are subject to coronavirus testing once or twice per week if they’re not fully vaccinated.
“While we take the loss of any team member seriously, we had anticipated some of our staff would not be in compliance and took steps to proactively recruit for positions deemed at-risk for vacancy,” said an RWJ spokesperson. “Given the overall number of staff who have been separated from the organization is distributed across our numerous facilities, job types and work shifts, patient care will not be affected, nor will there be any impact on the normal operations of our services.”
New Jersey’s largest hospital chain, Hackensack Meridian Health, gave its employees a deadline of Nov. 15 to show proof of vaccination, and has already warned that non-compliance would result in termination. “Hackensack Meridian Health has a 99.8 percent compliance with our vaccine mandate,” said Mary McGeever, a Hackensack spokeswoman.
However, the third-largest hospital system in the state, Atlantic Health System in northwest New Jersey, has not implemented a mandate, offering its employees the choice to either be vaccinated or tested weekly.
“As of today, approximately 87 percent of team members at Atlantic Health System have received at least one dose of vaccine against COVID-19, and that is without mandating our team members to receive it,” said Atlantic Health spokesperson Rob Seman. “At this time, Atlantic Health System is providing unvaccinated team members with the option to either receive the vaccine or to be tested weekly before reporting to work. We are proud to share that at this point, no team member has refused to participate in our program.”