[Hoot Gibson]

There is already a shortage of qualified nurses in this country and those who are working are already commanding large bonuses and working long hours of overtime. It is not easy to replace nurses. A friend of our family from Kentucky, who attended school with my children, makes a very good income traveling around the country taking short-term contracts as a trauma nurse in emergency rooms. 

I don't believe the story of a Kentucky hospital quickly replacing a large number of nurses who resigned rather than get vaccinated. They will be replaced but they were not replaced over the course of a few days. A hospital's HR department could not possibly work that fast to replace such a large number of nurses. It sounds like the hospital is engaging in some propaganda to discourage additional resignations.

Vax mandate resignations force Lewis County General Hospital to ‘pause’ baby deliveries

No labor means no labor.

Lewis County General Hospital in Lowville, NY, will temporarily stop delivering babies, after maternity-ward employees quit rather than be forced to get the COVID-19 vaccine, according to reports.

Six employees in the unit resigned over the vaccine mandate, and another seven are undecided about getting the shot, the county health system’s CEO, Gerald Cayer, said Friday, according to WWNY.

“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,” he said, according to the station.

Cayer said 27 percent of the hospital’s workers — 165 employees — haven’t gotten the shot.

The state has ordered all health-care workers in New York to get their first shot by Sept. 27 or face termination. After the August announcement by former governor Andrew Cuomo, 30 hospital workers resigned, Cayer said.