President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate could trigger significant staff shortages in the healthcare industry, warned a hospital system CEO.
Concerned about the potential of not being able to provide adequate care, Scotland County Hospital CEO Randy Tobler told CNN in an interview published Tuesday: “Our reality is we need staff to work. And in return for [their service], we’re not going to ask [our employees] to get a vaccine.”
On September 9, President Biden stated that healthcare workers employed at facilities that receive Medicare or Medicaid funding must be vaccinated.
Tobler reported that about 18 percent of nurses quit during the pandemic and that mandating vaccines would facilitate even more leaving their jobs.
Speaking of the mood of front-line workers, Toblin said, “There were people in the hospital that freely shared that if the vaccine mandate happened…they would not work here. That’s just something they weren’t going to put in their body.”
“I criticized President Biden’s mandate,” Tobler said. “I thought it was a mistake because I think it’s going to backfire.”
Vaccine-related concerns leading to the cancellation of more than a thousand Southwest Airlines flights, and hundreds of police officers threatening to leave the Seattle Police force, seem to indicate that Tobler is correct in his assessment.
The Epoch Times reports that “Brownfield Regional Medical Center CEO Jerry Jasper told KCBD that ‘probably 20 to 25 percent of my staff will have to go away if [the vaccine is mandated]. And losing those workers,’ he said, ‘would likely cause his hospital to shut down.’”
Several large teachers unions are also reporting the potential loss of a large percentage of their workers. The military is reporting the loss of highly trained personnel, such as fighter pilots, as well.
Many are watching to see how businesses and the public respond to vaccine mandates in the days to come.
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