Northwell Health lays off 1,400 unvaccinated employees

Northwell Health, New York State’s largest health care provider, said Monday it had laid off 1,400 of its employees who refused to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to spokesperson Joe Kemp.

New York’s efforts to require more than 650,000 employees of state hospitals and nursing homes to be vaccinated went into effect last week, prompting tens of thousands of employees who had resisted being vaccinated. vaccinate. But others have filed a flurry of lawsuits, and courtrooms statewide are determining when and how to allow warrant exemptions.

So far, the number of workers in New York who have left their jobs is relatively small and is unlikely to lead to a staff shortage that has put the hardest-hit areas of the country at risk during the ramp-up of the Delta variant.

The same is true for Northwell, which employs more than 76,000 people. In a statement, Northwell said that vaccinating 100% of its employees would allow the provider to “produce exceptional care in all of our hospitals, without disruption and allow all of our facilities to remain open and fully operational.”

“Northwell has taken a rapid and aggressive approach to successfully move towards full immunization compliance while maintaining continuity of care and ensuring that our high level of patient safety is not compromised in any way,” continues the communicated.