The Mayo Clinic announced Wednesday that it had fired 700 unvaccinated employees the previous day, NBC News reported.
These employees, according to CBS News, make up around 1 percent of the Mayo Clinic's 73,000-strong workforce. They were fired after missing a deadline to either obtain a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine or obtain a religious or medical exemption by Monday.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The prestigious hospital system said the firings were "necessary to keep our patients, workforce, visitors and communities safe" but that dismissed employees are welcome to re-apply if they get vaccinated in the future.
A group of 85 Minnesota lawmakers, led by state Rep. Peggy Bennett (R), signed a letter to the Mayo Clinic last month urging the hospital not to fire unvaccinated employees and threatening to withhold state funds from any "healthcare facility that fires their employees due to unrealistic vaccine mandate policies."
Conservative podcast host Liz Wheeler also stuck up for the fired healthcare workers. "Do not say one word about hospital staffing crises when the Mayo Clinic just fired 700 workers for being unvaxxed," Wheeler tweeted.
Former NBCUniversal executive Mike Sington took to Twitter to express a very different view. "Good, keep it up, keep firing them," he wrote. "Ban the unvaccinated from their jobs, from public places. They can sit in their homes alone, while the rest of us enjoy our lives."
-
The party bringing Trump-style populism to JapanUnder The Radar Far-right party is ‘Rise of Sanseito is ‘shattering’ the belief that Japan is ‘immune’ to populism’ the belief that Japan is ‘immune’ to populism
-
Southern barbecue: This year’s top threeFeature A weekend-only restaurant, a 90-year-old pitmaster, and more
-
Film reviews: Anemone and The Smashing MachineFeature A recluse receives an unwelcome guest and a pioneering UFC fighter battles addiction
-
FDA OKs generic abortion pill, riling the rightSpeed Read The drug in question is a generic version of mifepristone, used to carry out two-thirds of US abortions
-
The new Stratus Covid strain – and why it’s on the riseThe Explainer ‘No evidence’ new variant is more dangerous or that vaccines won’t work against it, say UK health experts
-
RFK Jr. vaccine panel advises restricting MMRV shotSpeed Read The committee voted to restrict access to a childhood vaccine against chickenpox
-
Texas declares end to measles outbreakSpeed Read The vaccine-preventable disease is still spreading in neighboring states, Mexico and Canada
-
RFK Jr. shuts down mRNA vaccine funding at agencySpeed Read The decision canceled or modified 22 projects, primarily for work on vaccines and therapeutics for respiratory viruses
-
Measles cases surge to 33-year highSpeed Read The infection was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 but has seen a resurgence amid vaccine hesitancy
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, changeSpeed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
-
Kennedy ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory panelspeed read Health Secretary RFK Jr. is a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has criticized the panel of experts
