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More than 150 employees of Houston Methodist resigned or were terminated over the last 2 weeks, after refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19, the health system confirmed Tuesday.

Houston Methodist set a deadline of June 21 for all of its employees to either be fully vaccinated or be approved for a religious or medical exemption allowing them to avoid inoculation. Remaining employees who refused to follow this policy were fired Tuesday, a spokesperson confirmed, while others resigned before Tuesday.

Monday marked the end of a 2-week suspension for a group of 178 employees, which was put in place to give them more time to adhere to the policy without permanently losing their jobs. While 153 balked, the spokesperson said, 25 acquiesced and got vaccinated. They were permitted to return to work "the day after they became compliant," the spokesperson wrote in an email to 乌鸦传媒. The spokesperson declined to say how many of the 153 were fired versus resigned.

Previously, executives and managers at the health system resigned or were terminated for not complying with the vaccine mandate following earlier deadlines implemented for them.

Shaken System?

Of the roughly 26,000 employees and employed physicians working in the system when the mandate was announced in April, about 99% were vaccinated by the June deadline.

Exemptions were granted to 285 employees, while another 332 were permitted to delay inoculation until after pregnancies, the spokesperson said.

All of the exempted employees "will be required to undergo [COVID] surveillance testing once every 2 weeks, as well as wear both a face mask and face shield while patient facing," the spokesperson noted.

Some employees who got vaccinated are so upset by the policy that they are interviewing for other positions or are taking a couple months off, said Jennifer Bridges, RN, a nurse among the 153 to leave the system recently, citing conversations with Houston Methodist employees. They only got vaccinated because they need to keep a steady job -- not because they believe the vaccines are safe.

Most of the employees who protested the policy said that not enough comprehensive data on the vaccines' efficacy and safety exist to take the risk. Many public health experts have disputed that claim, saying the vaccines are very safe and efficacious based on the clinical trials that have been conducted.

Experts and Houston Methodist leaders have also noted that the COVID vaccines have been shown to be much more efficacious and safe than other commonly used vaccines, including the flu vaccine -- which Methodist mandated more than a decade ago. Employees have followed that policy, spokespeople confirmed.

Employees had their access to email and pay cut off while suspended, Bridges said.

Bridges was the lead plaintiff among 117 Houston Methodist employees who sued the health system in late May for threatening termination if they did not get vaccinated. A federal judge June 12, but Bridges said they are appealing to a higher court.

Houston Methodist became the first health system to require vaccination for COVID-19 in April, according to CEO Marc Boom, MD. Since then, other systems have followed suit, Health System outside Washington, D.C., which has about 18,000 employees, on Tuesday.

Bridges resigned before being fired, she said, taking a new job as a home healthcare nurse. She figured it would be best to stay away from hospital environments for a while, she told 乌鸦传媒, believing that most hospitals will soon enact a similar mandate.

Bridges did not inform Houston Methodist of her new position, which she started while suspended. The health system called Bridges to ask her if she had been vaccinated the day after the deadline, according to . When Bridges informed them she had not, the system told her she was not welcome back.

"All physicians who practice at Houston Methodist are required to be vaccinated. In accordance with the medical staff bylaws, their hospital privileges will be dropped [if they are not]." However, "100% of our physicians are now vaccinated," the spokesperson said.

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