Mayo Clinic announced on Tuesday that it had fired 700 employees who did not comply with its COVID-19 vaccination policy, which required them to be vaccinated by Monday.
The employees make up only 1% of Mayo's workforce, which includes around 73,000 employees, according to a statement from the clinic. The 700 employees fired are across all of its locations, not a single site.
Mayo officials shared that the decision is sad as they are losing valuable employees, however, they made the decision for its primary value, "the needs of the patient come first."
"We need to take all steps necessary to keep our patients, workforce, visitors and communities safe," Mayo said in its statement.
The health care organization went on to share that it believes it is supporting medicine and the vaccine through its mandate.
"This is a time when Mayo Clinic must stand firmly behind the evidence supporting the efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccines to help protect the health and safety of our patients, workforce, visitors, and communities," the hospital said in a statement.
Related
The clinic did allow for medical or religious exemptions, and it said that most of the exemption requests were approved.
"The majority of medical or religious exemption requests were granted," Mayo said in a statement while also pointing out its release of around 1% of its staff follows suit with other healthcare organizations nationwide.
Mayo went on to say data shows the vaccines keep people out of the hospital while saving lives.
The clinic shared that any of the employees who were terminated on Tuesday will be able to return for future job openings if they receive the vaccine.
"Mayo Clinic is deeply grateful to our staff who are working tirelessly and showing tremendous dedication to delivering the highest level of care to our patients in extremely challenging circumstances," the statement said. "With the rising wave of infections from the omicron variant, Mayo Clinic also urges all who are not vaccinated to get vaccinated as soon as possible."
