Nurses Warn of Staff Shortages Due to COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates

Terminations, job walk-offs could be ‘devastating’ to communities

A registered nurse cares for COVID-19 patients in an intensive care unit at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, Calif., on Jan. 21, 2021. Mario Tama/Getty Images

A nationwide shortage of nurses and health care workers may soon worsen as thousands of medical staff face losing their jobs by refusing to obey new COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

“It will be really terrible. We’re already understaffed,” said one veteran registered nurse who works at a health care facility north of Seattle.