400 Henry Ford Healthcare Workers Have Quit Over COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate

The Henry Ford Health System announced on Tuesday that around 400 of their healthcare workers have quit over the COVID vaccine mandate. That is only about 1% of their overall workforce of about 33,000 employees.

Bob Riney, the President of Healthcare Operations and Chief Operating Officer, hosted a press conference on Tuesday to announce the vaccination rates amongst the Henry Ford Health System Staff. In the announcement, Riney noted that “All things considered, we’re losing a very small segment of our workforce. I quite frankly wish that was zero, but it's not.  But it's a very small percentage, and our new-hire process is already offsetting the folks who declined to be vaccinated and resigned.”

Also in the press conference and press release, they noted that "About 1,900 team members, or 6 percent of the workforce, received an approved medical or religious exemption."  But, they expect that number to decrease if COVID vaccine boosters become more of a seasonal vaccination like flu shots.

Overall, about 30,000 employees that work for the Henry Ford Health System have been fully  vaccinated against COVID-19. Riney added that any of the 400 workers who refused the vaccination will have an opportunity to reapply for their jobs if they “have a change of heart and become vaccinated”.

You can watch the entire press conference from the Henry Ford Health System below.

Michigan currently has a vaccination rate of about 52.7% with 5.26 million Michiganders being fully vaccinated and about another 500,000 Michigan residents who have had at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.