North Carolina Hospital System Suspends Hundreds of Employees After COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate

A North Carolina health care system said it suspended hundreds of its employees after the firm implemented a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, adding that workers who refuse to get vaccinated after five days will be fired.

"Beginning this week, approximately 375 team members-across 15 hospitals, 800 clinics and hundreds of outpatient facilities-have been confirmed to be non-compliant and are not able to report to work," stated a press release from Novant Health, which is based in North Carolina but operates in other states.

In a similar move, 125 workers with Indiana University Health, the biggest hospital system in the state, parted ways with the company, according to a news release issued last week.

"Indiana University Health has put the safety and well-being of patients and team members first by requiring employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Sept. 1," the company said in a Sept. 16 statement.

"After a two-week unpaid suspension period ending Sept. 14, a total of 125 employees, the equivalent of 61 full-time employees, chose not to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and have left the organization."

It comes as President Joe Biden on Sept. 9 announced he would direct the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to penalize companies with 100 or more employees if they do not comply with his administration's COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Under the mandate, details of which have not been released, private-sector workers would have to either get the COVID-19 vaccine or submit to weekly testing.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/north-carolina-hospital-system-suspends-hundreds-of-employees-after-covid-19-vaccine-mandate_4009111.html