By J. Darrel Hicks

Front-line healthcare workers — along with environmental services and maintenance workers — in hospitals toiled for months in dangerous work environments treating patients with COVID-19. Then late last year, vaccines became widely available to these workers, and hopes rose that high vaccination rates within healthcare organizations would pave the way for a return to pre-pandemic activities. Well, not so fast.

The largest health care system in Indiana has emerged as the second U.S. hospital group facing pushback for requiring COVID-19 vaccines for all employees, and Houston Methodist hospital system remains in the national spotlight for recently forcing out 153 employees who refused to get vaccinated.

Across the country, little fanfare has greeted the dozens of hospitals that have quietly begun following Houston Methodist’s lead, according to USA Today. Many predict that if the FDA gives full approval to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, there could be a tsunami of hospitals signing on.  

Some of the most prestigious hospitals in the nation have joined the trend, including Johns Hopkins Hospital, New York-Presbyterian, Mass General Brigham and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, nearly all hospitals in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Connecticut have announced plans to require vaccines.