Massachusetts hospitals with COVID-19 vaccination requirements are preparing to lose hundreds of workers who fail to comply, according to The Boston Globe.
Hospitals across the country have been mandating vaccination. At the same time, many organizations are grappling with worker shortages and struggling with recruitment and retainment.
Some hospitals have already lost workers who refused to get inoculated.
In Massachusetts, hospitals expect to lose unvaccinated workers but hope to avoid a worst-case staffing scenario, the Globe reported.
Boston-based Mass General Brigham, the largest hospital system in Massachusetts, has a mandate deadline of Oct. 15.
As of Oct. 6, more than 95 percent of employees there had been vaccinated, but about 4,000 workers had not, according to the report.
Rosemary Sheehan, chief human resources officer at Mass General Brigham, told the Globe she hopes the number of workers who lose their jobs "is in the hundreds and not close to a thousand."
Cambridge, Mass.-based Beth Israel Lahey Health President and CEO Kevin Tabb, MD, told the newspaper as many as a few hundred of his organization's employees could lose their jobs if they aren't vaccinated by the system's Oct. 31 deadline.
Other hospital systems in Massachusetts reported high vaccination rates as well as of Oct. 6, with most or nearly all employees being vaccinated.
Hospitals do not yet know how many unvaccinated employees they could eventually lose, but they are preparing with greater efforts to hire and retain workers, according to the Globe. Many hospitals are also putting workers on unpaid leave before firing them, to allow people additional time to comply.
Read the Globe's full report here.