Understaffing has plagued the healthcare system rendering it unable to operate without the deployment of the national guard. But what causes these staff shortages? Likely the vaccine mandate that has led to thousands of doctors and nurses losing their jobs.
Washington state, Oregon, and California have announced the deployment of National Guard forces to staff hospitals in their respective states. President Biden has also deployed six teams of military medical personnel to hospitals in New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island, Michigan, and New Mexico.
According to KPTV Fox 12 in Oregon, thousands of healthcare workers have either left or been fired from their jobs for not complying with Governor Kate Brown’s vaccine mandate in time. Wednesday Brown announced that 1,200 National Guard troops would be deployed to staff 50 hospitals around Oregon.
AP reported in October that at least 1,887 Washington State healthcare workers had been fired for refusing to comply with a vaccine mandate. Now state governor Jay Inslee is deploying at least 100 national guard troops to set up testing sites and perform non-medical tasks to mitigate staff shortages.
Just as the Supreme Court shot down Biden’s OSHA vaccine mandate, justices also upheld his Medicare/Medicaid mandate that will apply to most healthcare workers in the country.
While healthcare workers should be vaccinated due to the simple fact that they deal with immuno-compromised individuals during their day-to-day activities, America simply can’t afford to fire everyone. Staff shortages will continue to cripple the overwhelmed healthcare system.