How Mandatory Vaccinations Have Impacted Healthcare Employment?

How Mandatory Vaccinations Have Impacted Healthcare Employment? – The world has changed considerably over the last couple of years. And though change is synonymous with life, the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly altered how we all live, socialize, and work today.

The healthcare industry without a doubt took the brunt of the pandemic. And as of late 2021, over 500,000 healthcare workers across the country have contracted the Coronavirus, with over 1,800 deaths as a result.

Correspondingly, the onset of the pandemic has dramatically shifted protocols when dealing with patients in high-risk environments. And along with this, mandatory vaccination requirements have directly affected healthcare jobs as a whole.

In 2021, it’s estimated that just over 40 percent of adults still remain unvaccinated. And with mandatory vaccinations on the rise across multiple industries, this has affected employment in a variety of ways.

Here, we’ll explore how mandatory vaccinations have affected healthcare with access to physician jobs and other healthcare positions around the country.

Movement within Healthcare

After the initial onset of the pandemic, not many people realized the full scope of what the coronavirus was capable of. And it was in this interim time that many of our doctors and nurses also fell ill from the virus.

The Coronavirus is highly contagious, even more contagious than the common cold or the flu. And this is what makes its reach so dramatic and effective across the globe.

As doctors and nurses began to fall ill to the virus, a large portion of the workforce began to have second thoughts about their careers. And many of those who’ve been working in healthcare for many years began to shift their focus into different areas.

As a result, many doctors, nurses, and medical assistants left their fields of specialty in the hospital setting and instead opted for administrative roles where direct contact with patients was greatly reduced. And others have opted for smaller clinical settings.

Career Changes

As we’ve seen across the country, and what has been dubbed as the “great resignation” event, many people during the initial shutdown began to rethink their career paths altogether. And this is true of healthcare workers as well.

We’ve already seen the huge job market that still remains unfilled even in late 2021 with the hospitality industry and with other front line, customer facing roles. And this is largely due to many workers rethinking their worth and their value in society.

Though still a small percentage, there have been some healthcare workers who have left the industry entirely. And these individuals have begun looking for employment in other industries, or going back to school to pursue other fields of study.

As a result, this has left a large amount of job openings within the healthcare industry resulting in understaffing at many hospitals across the country.

Vaccination Policies

Americans are still largely divided when it comes to COVID-19 vaccination. Nearly half of the country is skeptical of the vaccine, and this has been mostly fueled by misrepresentation from numerous media sources ranging from bizarre conspiracy theories to complete misinformation altogether.

Many healthcare corporations have instituted mandatory vaccination policies in order to help protect staff and mitigate further hospitalizations. Yet, even many healthcare workers remain skeptical of getting vaccinated.

Due to some of the vaccination policies, many healthcare workers have left the industry. And though not all hospitals are requiring vaccination, some are requiring weekly negative COVID-19 test results in order to maintain employment.

Going forward, it’s probable that all healthcare workers may be required to become vaccinated to remain employed. However, we’re still a long way off to know how this will ultimately impact the healthcare industry in the future.

At the end of the day, vaccination is largely being looked at as either a personal medical choice, or as the most responsible act for living alongside others in society. And depending on what side your political affiliation and your personal philosophy lands, this dictates whether or not you’ll get the vaccine.