A New York hospital was forced to temporarily halt delivering babies because several members of its maternity staff chose to resign instead of getting vaccinated, according to 7News.
Lewis County Health System Chief Executive Officer Gerald Cayer, said in a news conference on Friday that as of September 24, the hospital will temporarily stop delivering babies since 6 staffers on their maternity unit resigned over the COVID vaccination mandate. Another 7 are undecided.
“If we can pause the service and now focus on recruiting nurses who are vaccinated, we will be able to reengage in delivering babies here in Lewis County,” Cayer said. The hospital will work with the New York Department of Health to ensure that the maternity unit would not close permanently.
In August, then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that all healthcare workers in New York State, will be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Monday, September 27.
The announcement resulted in 30 workers at the hospital getting vaccinated and 30 resigning, according to Cayer.
Overall, 464 workers at Lewis County General Hospital are vaccinated while 165 are not.
“Our hope is as we get closer (to the deadline), the numbers will increase of individuals who are vaccinated, fewer individuals will leave and maybe, with a little luck, some of those who have resigned will reconsider,” Cayer said. “We are not alone. There are thousands of positions that are open north of the Thruway and now we have a challenge to work through, you know, with the vaccination mandate.”
