Houston Methodist Hospital suspends 178 employees for not following COVID-19 vaccination mandate

Hospital employees stand in a hallway.Photo by Gustavo Fring from Pexels

Refusing to comply with COVID-19 vaccine protocols has cost 178 employees of Houston Methodist Hospital their jobs.

The hospital announced in March that COVID-19 vaccination would be required by all employees by June 7.

Since the deadline has passed, 178 employees of the hospital, or about 1 percent of the hospital’s total 25,000 employees, were suspended. This small group of employees have been given two weeks to get fully vaccinated, after which grace period they will be fired if they do not comply.

While 27 of those staff members have been partially vaccinated, the requirement stated that staff had to be fully vaccinated by the deadline set.

In an email to staff, Marc Boom, president and CEO of Houston Methodist Hospital, wrote that he was proud of those who did get fully vaccinated in a move that helped protect, "our patients, your colleagues, your families, and our community.”

When discussing the number of people suspended, he said, "I wish the number could be zero, but unfortunately, a small number of individuals have decided not to put their patients first."

A hospital employee sits by himself.Photo by Jonathan Borba from Pexels

A lawsuit was filed against the hospital in May by 117 hospital employees regarding the mandated vaccination.

"I feel like they kind of bullied us into this little corner, like you have to do it or you don't have a job. This is my only source of income," one hospital employee said.

Current federal guidelines state that employers are allowed to require employees to be vaccinated.

Left out of these suspensions were 285 employees who requested and were granted exemptions based on medical or religious reasons. In addition to that, 332 were given deferrals.

Updates on the lawsuit were not immediately available.

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