A hospital system has fired six senior health care workers who refused to get coronavirus vaccines. RWJBarnabas Health, a private New Jersey-based company, mandated all staff members at a ‘supervisory or above level’ to be fully vaccinated by June 30.
On Monday, RWJBarnabas Health stated: ‘Regrettably, six (6) staff at the supervisor level and above have not complied with the mandate and are no longer employees of RWJBH, per our policy.’
The statement, obtained by ABC News, revealed that ‘the vast majority of our management team has been vaccinated against Covid-19’.
As of July 14, 2,979 staff members at the supervisor level or above, or 99.7%, had been fully vaccinated or had received medical or religious exceptions or deferrals, according to the company.
RWJBarnabas Health – which is one of the biggest health care systems in the state and nation with more than 35,000 employees – did not reveal the identities of the fired workers.
The company added that vaccines would soon be required for all physicians and staff and that the announcement would drop ‘in the coming days’.
‘At RWJBarnabas Health, we have an ethical and professional responsibility to protect our patients and ensure a safe, Covid-19 free environment,’ the company stated.
While RWJBarnabas Health is requiring its staff to get the jab, other private hospital networks in the state are not. Atlantic Health System, which serves 11 counties in New Jersey, is ‘giving workers the option whether to vaccinate’, according to NJ.com.
‘More than 75% 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,’ an Atlantic Health System executive told the publication on July 1.
The vaccination requirement has become an issue of contention, with some patients worried that they could contract the Delta variant from an unvaccinated nurse or doctor.
New Jersey on Wednesday reported 669 new coronavirus cases, a 165% increase from two weeks prior, as the Delta variant spreads across the country.
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