11 Johnston Health Employees Resign Over Vaccine Mandate

Hospital employees and their supporters protest the COVID vaccine mandate August 1, 2021 at the Johnston Health Smithfield campus. Contributed photo

Eleven employees at Johnston Health in Clayton and Smithfield have resigned over the vaccine mandate requirements. An additional 10 full-time employees who did not meet the deadline to receive a COVID-19 vaccination are currently in a “vaccine probationary period.” They must be complaint by November 2, 2021 according to hospital officials.

A total of 95 percent of Johnston Health’s employees, including part-time, PRN (as needed) and contract workers, have been vaccinated or granted exemptions.

Alan Wolf, Director of News with UNC Health said, “Across UNC Health, we’ve now had about 80 employees resign who cited the vaccine requirement as their reason for leaving. We’re incredibly proud that we have confirmed vaccination status or granted exemptions for more than 98 percent of our employees. We take this vaccine requirement very seriously, and did not approve it lightly. UNC Health is grateful for the hard work and sacrifices of our more than 30,000 heroic health workers during the pandemic. We would rather avoid losing any employees.”

“We believe that requiring vaccines is in the best interest of public health and is essential for the safety of our patients, teammates and communities. This vaccine requirement is designed to provide a critical layer of protection for everyone. UNC Health is actively recruiting new staff for hundreds of open positions, and we constantly redeploy resources to ensure we can provide the best care for all patients,” Mr. Wolf said.

Johnston Health has a total of 1,850 employees. As of this week, Johnston Health has 63 vacancies at the Clayton hospital, 27 of those being full-time positions. In Smithfield, there are 148 vacancies with 81 of them being full-time positions. The remainder are part-time and PRN (as-needed) employees to support full-time staff.

“Making anything mandatory is not an easy task. It’s not something that I or anyone else takes lightly. A great deal of thought went into the decision, including the suffering and death that we have seen in our hospital and community caused by Covid-19 during the past year and a half,” stated Tom Williams, CEO & President of Johnston Health.

“I believe that we in health care are held to a higher standard. Our patients and families look to us for answers and guidance. We must set the example. Part of our role is to protect public health.”

In August, Johnston Health employees and their families held protests at both hospital campuses over the decision by administrators to require mandatory COVID vaccinations.

23 COMMENTS

  1. A year and a half ago when there wasn’t a vaccine these eleven employees were Hero’s that work here by the signs that Alan Wolf had placed on the hospital road frontage. My goodness what does political pressure do to a so-called man of authority? These front line medical staff went from a Hero to a Zero in less than a year. I guess if our top law makers of Congress didn’t vote themself a exemption from taking the jab that has proven to be as effective as wearing a non N-95 mask and would report the true negative side effects of this vaccine folks would feel a little easier having their rights of my body my choice striped away? As for me, I will continue to identify as vaccinated!

    • Amen! If Congress, Pfizer, moderna, Johnson and Johnson, USPS, NIH and CDC aren’t mandated than there must be a reason. I will identify as vaxxed until forever. Medical procedures and choices should not be mandated!

    • Well Mr. Wolf is in violation. He & others at UNC are forcing their BELIEFS on the employees.
      Read carefully his quote
      “We believe that requiring vaccines is in the best interest of public health and is essential for the safety of our patients, teammates and communities.“
      You beliefs are yours and yours alone and that is prejudice and communistic to force your beliefs on someone that doesn’t share yours!!!!! People in this world really need to start thinking freely as our founders intended.

      Cull the herd?

      I think you should start with yourselves.
      When was the last time you really read the constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence? My guess is to long ago for you to remember. I suggest you read it and understand it!
      Have either of you sworn an oath to defend the Constitution? If you did and still think this way then that’s your choice. But DO NOT force your beliefs on anyone ever it’s their choice and theirs alone.
      This is not the USSA !

    • We also don’t need idiots running the government but yet here we are! No vaccine passport, you’re fired! No ID to vote, no problem! how many ballots would you like?

  2. Agreed. 98% valued their health, their family’s health and their patients health as well as their jobs. If 2% want to be dense about it – well good luck finding a new job.

  3. The sad thing is these are the employees who will stick up for you and fight for the proper treatments, question the doctors and provide care based on what is right for you, not just what the government tells them to do. This is the kind of nurse, doctor, therapist, nursing assistant that we need. We also need the housekeepers, security officers, medical coders, IT professionals, etc. I guess the hospital isn’t really that busy during this pandemic if they can let that many people go.

  4. What is wrong with people that won’t allow them freedom to choose? Those that dictate should find another country. This is hopefully still America and God gave people free will. I am sorry for the patients that will not now get care because of this manufactured communist action to bully providers that chose not to be an experiment. They will be welcomed in other places that will arise for every door that closes, another opens.

  5. Fire everyone that will not take the shot! They can go to work at walmart or lowes. You can’t catch Covid there. Everyone else was shut down but walmart and lowes. Stocks are too high there.

  6. Well Mr. Wolf is in violation. He & others at UNC are forcing their BELIEFS on the employees.
    Read carefully his quote
    “We believe that requiring vaccines is in the best interest of public health and is essential for the safety of our patients, teammates and communities.“
    You beliefs are yours and yours alone and that is prejudice and communistic to force your beliefs on someone that doesn’t share yours!!!!! People in this world really need to start thinking freely as our founders intended.

  7. In the greater than 20 years of scientists working with this new style mRNA vaccine, it has never been approved before the pandemic.. There’s a reason. It’s too unstable. In recent pathology studies that have been performed on deceased vaccinated patients, these studies are showing inflammation in the brain, heart, testes, and ovaries. Over time this inflammation can lead to cancer and or sterility. If you ask your doctor, ” Doctor, will this vaccine give me cancer?”, his answer should be “I don’t know”. There are no long term studies done on these vaccines so the scientists and doctors must say “I don’t know”. There are so many treatments out there but money and power are getting in front of them telling you truths.

  8. Don’t think for a minute that was only 11 quit. There have been many others prior to the deadline. So many untruths have been told. But believe what you want. It is a shame

    • I pray those that have left will now speak out boldly for all the world to hear and see the truth! Stew Peters, project Veritas are sources of truth they can reach out to. Tell your friends and coworkers to speak up.

      • Not going to matter the corporations could care less about anyone’s feelings or opinions I work for one they only care about profit and their best interests. It’s those health care workers right to not get vaccinated just like it’s the hospitals and large companies to not let them work unvaccinated.

  9. The billions of us who are vaccinated make a pretty strong case for its safety, but hey, by all means don’t let empirical evidence hinder your Fox-induced hysteria. Some folks don’t want to work, right?

    • It’s not about not wanting to work, these workers all worked when the rest of the world was shut down and there was no vaccine. The healthcare workers just want choice as to what goes into their body. Medical procedures should never be mandated because they all carry risk and we should be able to make our own decisions as to whether we accept that risk or not. I would bet that if you asked them they all are completely vaccinated against every other thing they are told to vaccinate against but this “vaccine” is different as it has not been tested to the same level as all other vaccines have, does not have long term safety studies, and has caused many more deaths and adverse reactions in 10 months than all other vaccines in 30 years combined. I believe it is wise to question when a medical procedure is being coercively pushed on an entire population for a “disease” that has a 99+% recovery rate at most age groups. These workers see the worst of the reactions and the disease but still chose not to be vaccinated, that speaks volumes as to which they deem more harmful to themselves.

  10. Why do the protected need to be protected from the unprotected by forcing the unprotected to use the protection that didn’t protect the protected in the first place?

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