Two weeks ago, an crowd of health workers and others gathered in front of Anschutz Medical Campus at UCHealth Anschutz Medical Campus to protest against the COVID-19 vaccine regulations in the health care network.
Some of them may be not in a position.
Dan Weaver, a spokesperson for UCHealth spoke the news channel Rocky Mountain PBS that 119 UCHealth employees — less than 0.5 percent of their overall workforce — did not receive vaccinations or obtain a proper exemption prior to the deadline of October 1. Those 119 people were dismissed.
“Despite losing the employees affected the requirement to be COVID-19-vaccinated by UCHealth has helped improve staffinglevels,” Weaver said in an email. “With large rates of vaccination less employees are being tested positive for COVID-19, and are required to take time off from work for a while as they recuperate.”
The majority of the dismissed employees, 54 resided in the Denver metropolitan region, Weaver said. Thirty-three of them were located in northern Colorado while 32 were located in the southern part of Colorado.
According to an article from USA Today, people fired because they did not follow COVID-19 mandates for vaccination are not likely to be eligible for unemployment benefits. Weaver stated that the dismissed UCHealth employees are advised to apply for a new job should they decide to receive the vaccine.
“No hospital would like to lose valuable employees However, we are aware that vaccines help save lives and enhance security for all,” Weaver wrote. “We are grateful to our staff members and healthcare providers who have decided to be vaccinated , to safeguard their family members as well as their coworkers and patients.”
A large portion of those who protested during the August protests spoke on Rocky Mountain PBS that they weren’t necessarily anti-vaccines, but it was just the mandate they resisted. However, UCHealth is far from being the sole employer that is requiring vaccinations in Colorado. Other health care providers like Banner Health and Denver Health require vaccinations for their employees.
That was just before the state’s leaders, under pressure from Gov. Jared Polis, announced rules that required employees of some 3,600 health facilities to be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus.
The health sector isn’t the only one to be affected by these requirements. For instance, airlines and most schools in Colorado as well as military personnel in the U.S. military have all required COVID-19 vaccines.
In September, at close of the month Denver mayor Michael Hancock announced that 98 percent of city employees had been in compliance with Denver’s mandate to get vaccines.
When the mandate was first introduced, Bob McDonald, the director-general of the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment (DDPHE), declared that obligatory vaccinations were “the only way to get rid” from the pandemic.
However, according to Rae Ellen Bichell reported for Kaiser Health News, the transmission of the Delta COVID-19 variant is a problem for herd immunity and, in some cases, impossible even in areas with high vaccination rates. The state of Colorado’s San Juan County, for instance is home to the highest 99.9 percent vaccination rate, which is among the highest in the country. However, people are still susceptible to COVID-19 in the county.
“Even in the most ideal case — where vaccines cut down transmission by 80 percent -it’s actually two times more likely develop COVID as you were back in the month of July.” Julia Raifman, is a Boston University School of Public Health epidemiologist. “It’s impossible statistically to attain herd immunity using this Delta variation.”
