In my place of employment, there is no personal choice. It is required unless you have a VALID medical reason not to get vaccinated. If you do not comply, you are fired, plain and simple. There is no right to chose here

You are absolutely correct. We have the same system in place. I am a designated employee and I come to work regardless. Absences are not acceptable. If you have an appendage that is hanging off, sew it back on and get back to work. I wish I were joking. I actually ran to code one time, tripped on the edge of a rug, broke my arm and went to the ED. They casted it and sent me back to work, as an RN at the bedside. Not on light duty. There is no going home if there is no one to cover because that is patient abandonment and you lose your job and your license to practice. I am so glad I am retiring in a couple of years. I feel sorry for you younger folks…..

I disagree with the idea of giving my employer the right to threaten my livehood, by giving untimatums,forcing me to take immunizations that I do not want. I feel like this could lead to other imposed restrictions by my employer,that I feel violate my personal rights and freedoms. Such policies might eventually place all employees at the mercy of their employer.

To add fuel to the fire, many staff providing direct patient care, my unit in particular, have be given a blanket clasification called “designated employees”. This particular clasification requires that you arrive to work on time, even during severe weather conditions,and implies that absence is unacceptable. I was actually told by my supervisor that if you happened to be an employee with attendance problems, this might be all that is needed to terminate your employment.

When employees feel threatened by their employers attendance and occurance policies, they may feel that they have no alternative than to go to work. The irony of the situtation is, that if you do go to work sick and they send you home, you receive an occurance as well.Even good employees fear the consequences of “occurance” penalties.

Surely there must be a better way to address attendance issues.

Rationalizing that “human beings get sick” is not a justification for imposing your decisions to risk illness and spreading illness on others. If I believe, due to deeply rooted spiritual and religious beliefs, that I only serve my god by running around carrying weapons just in case someone else needs defending, am I entitled to do that even though it makes others uncomfortable?

As Al said, the team needs to set expectations, and in a healthcare setting, the expectation MUST be to not kill vulnerable patients. And if there are no alternative solutions, then those who choose to not get vaccinated need to be the ones to pay the price for their decision.

The point that I hope readers do not miss is the importance of setting expectations as a group and then holding to those expectations–no matter the costs. If you don’t wish to get immunized than creatively brainstorm with others alternative solutions such as staying home or working remotely. As teammates, the mutual purpose you should all have (especially in a hospital environment) is not spreading germs beyond what is necessary and by doing so, ensuring a clean, productive, and healthy environment for both staff and clients.