Cape Fear Valley Health employees have to get vaccine, exemption by today

Friday is the deadline for all Cape Fear Valley Health employees to get vaccinated. Currently, only 2% of staff -- or 140 people -- have not received the shot. Hospital officials say 107 of those employees are full-time staff.

Posted 8:19 p.m. Oct 1, 2021 — Updated 10:30 p.m. Oct 1, 2021

Lora Lavigne

, WRAL reporter

RALEIGH, N.C. — Friday is the deadline for all Cape Fear Valley Health employees to get vaccinated. Currently, only 2% of staff — or 140 people — have not received the shot. Hospital officials say 107 of those employees are full-time staff.

A spokesperson said “Any employees who have not received an approved exemption or at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine on Oct. 1 will be voluntarily choosing to leave unemployment with Cape Fear Valley Health after that time.”

The Vice President of the North Carolina Healthcare Association Tatyana Kelly said they are pleasantly surprised by the compliance of the mandates.

“While I feel like that’s an unfortunate situation, it also gives me great hope that we are getting to a point of such high rates of vaccination among the healthcare workforce,” she said.

Over at UNC Health, 80 employees have resigned within the past week out of 30,000 workers. That’s 20 more people who have resigned since Sept. 21.

Time is ticking for these employees to get their shot or find another employer. A UNC Health spokesperson confirmed with WRAL, they are still working to figure out the status of about 300 employees, an improvement from the 1,100 who were still unvaccinated late last month.

“While I feel like that’s an unfortunate situation, it also gives me great hope that we are getting to a point of such high rates of vaccination among the healthcare workforce,” said Tatyana Kelly.

UNC Health confirmed the vaccination status or granted exemptions for nearly 99% of employees. The deadline is Nov. 2 to get fully vaccinated or face termination.

“It’s a really important group to make sure we have that high rate of vaccination. It’s the best protection that not only they have, but we as a community that they serve that we also have,” Kelly added.

Some UNC Health workers told WRAL News that they're concerned about the safety of the available vaccines, their quick roll-out and potential long-term side-effects.

"I quit a job that I literally loved because I didn’t want to put something in my body," said Brittany Minahan, whose last nursing shift at Wayne UNC Healthcare, in Goldsboro, was Sept. 19.

“I’m hearing also anecdotally that a lot of folks that are on record as being vaccine hesitant are really just in the process of doing research, and making informed decisions. Not so much that they absolutely refuse to get it, but that they just need more time,” she said.

Duke Health officials said 98 percent of employees have either been vaccinated or received a medical or religious exemption, leaving about 350 of its 23,000 employees who haven't yet come into compliance with the mandate. But officials said many of them are new employees or people on leave, who will be given more time.

"Employees who have not complied ... will be subject to administrative actions, including possible unpaid administrative leave advancing to dismissal," spokeswoman Sarah Avery said.

Duke Health officials aren't disclosing how many staffers have resigned because of the mandate.

"We do not anticipate a large exodus from our organization, and our goal is to not have anyone leave," Galbraith said.

WakeMed's vaccine deadline for employees is Nov. 12, and system officials said an estimated 80 percent of their staff are fully vaccinated.

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