Hospital ‘pauses’ delivering babies due to mass exodus of anti-vax staff

Expectant mums in upstate New York won’t have access to a hospital’s maternity ward due to a mass resignation of anti-vaxxer staff.

There will be no babies delivered at a New York hospital due to anti-vax staff resigning. Picture: Getty

Expectant mums in the US are having to rethink their birthing plans after a hospital announced it won’t be delivering babies because of resignations from staff unwilling to get the Covid-19 vaccine.

Lewis County Health System, in upstate New York, announced it would “pause delivering babies” from September 24 due to significant staff shortages, NBC News reported.

CEO Gerald Cayer revealed on Friday (local time) that six staff had already resigned because of the hospital’s vaccine mandate, and seven others had expressed their intention to do the same.

“We are unable to safely staff the service after September 24. The number of resignations received leaves us no choice but to pause delivering babies at Lewis County General Hospital,” he said.

There will be no babies delivered at a New York hospital due to anti-vaxxers resigning. Picture: Getty

Management was reportedly working on “contingency plans” in case other essential services were jeopardised by more staff refusing to be vaccinated.

Healthcare staff in New York have been given until September 27 to receive at least one dose of the vaccine, excluding people who experienced an adverse reaction or have a medical exemption.

Religious exemptions would not be accepted for healthcare workers, similar to rules that applied during a measles outbreak in 2019.

“We as employees have an obligation not to put those we care for or our co-workers at risk,” Mr Cayer said.

The maternity ward at Lewis County Health System will not deliver babies from September 24. Picture: Google Maps

About 73 per cent of workers within the Lewis County Health System had been vaccinated, inclusive of about 464 staff.

An additional 165 people however were still unvaccinated.

Resignations had so far been from staff in clinical services, posing a threat to a broad range of hospital areas, Mr Cayer said.

Despite some pushback, he said he “unequivocally” supported the vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.