DALLAS (AP) 鈥� More than 150 employees at a Houston hospital system who refused to get a COVID-19 vaccine have been fired or resigned after a judge dismissed an employee lawsuit over the vaccine requirement.
A spokesperson for Houston Methodist Hospital system said 153 employees either resigned in the two-week suspension period or were terminated on Tuesday.
Earlier this month, a filed by 117 employees over the requirement.
The case over to protect patients and others against the coronavirus has been closely watched. It's is believed to be the first of its kind in the U.S. But it won鈥檛 be the end of the debate.
In the June 12 ruling, U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes of Houston deemed lead plaintiff Jennifer Bridges鈥� contention that the vaccines are 鈥渆xperimental and dangerous鈥� to be false and otherwise irrelevant. He also found that her likening the vaccination requirement to the Nazis鈥� forced medical experimentation on concentration camp captives during the Holocaust to be 鈥渞eprehensible.鈥�
The judge said that if employees of the hospital system didn't like the requirement, they could go work elsewhere.
The hospital workers who filed the lawsuit have already appealed the judge's dismal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The hospital system had required employees to complete their immunization by June 7. After that, 178 employees were for two weeks without pay for not complying.
Jamie Stengle, The Associated Press
