Few Maine Healthcare Workers Have Opted To Quit Over Vax Mandate

Don't shoot the messenger...

It's rough being in the media at times. Whether you like it or not, you sometimes have to talk about things that other people don't. It's a classic case of "you can please some of the people, some of the time...." when it comes right down to it. And whenever the subjects of covid or the vaccine come up, it's sure to ruffle feathers. No matter what.

And this is one of those times. But..... Here we go.

It's all about the vaccine mandate

Several weeks ago, Gov. Mills announced that there would be a vaccine mandate for all healthcare workers. Of course, this caused a firestorm of controversy. With that mandate came a lot of protesting and folks threatening to quit their jobs as opposed to getting vaccinated against their will.

This caused a lot of worry and a lot of speculation about how the healthcare industry would cope with the potential widespread loss of employees. To the point where the governor actually pushed back the deadline to give folks a moment to sort things out. But it's left a lot of people wondering, how many healthcare workers have actually quit?

The numbers were quite surprising

Turns out, almost no one has quit their jobs so far. At least no one directly citing the vaccine as the reason. So there could be more. But according to The Maine Beacon, only 20 Northern Light Health employees, out of 10,000+, have resigned over the mandate.

Maine Health, the state's largest healthcare provider, with over 23,000 employees, has had only 45 workers walk out the door. All this, while there is a record number of Covid cases in Maine hospitals right now. Luckily, that means those folks in the hospital are still getting the treatment they need, without worry.

All politics aside, I can't imagine it's an easy decision to go against what your gut tells you is right when you feel so strongly inside. As much as you hate it, I admire your decision to put patients first. Taking the jab, so you can keep treating people is an amazing quality. That always seemed what being in healthcare was all about, right?