Erie County Health Department completes mandated vaccinations

SANDUSKY — The Erie County Health Department has enforced its policy of requiring all employees to obtain the COVID-19 vaccinations that were updated this fall. The department apparently is losing four employees as a result: Three have quit and another is scheduled to be fired, said Pete Schade, Erie County's health commissioner. "The board has made their policy very clear," Schade said. "You need to be vaccinated, or you don't have a job here." As of Thursday, the health department had 167 employees. Schade said he anticipated losing four or five employees over the mandate. "That's apparently about where we are at," he said. In late September, the health board voted to require all employees to get the updated COVID-19 vaccinations that had been approved by the federal government. Board members approved the rule unanimously, claiming they wanted to avoid spreading the virus to vulnerable patients. Other similar organizations in the area — such as the health departments in Ottawa County and Huron County and Family Health Services — said that while they are encouraging vaccinations, they would not require them. Firelands Health requires everyone to be vaccinated but is not insisting that everyone get the latest booster, a spokesman said. The Erie County Health Department did not receive its COVID-19 vaccine supplies as early as anticipated, but they finally arrived in late October and a deadline of Dec. 1 was set for getting the shot. One nurse, one clerk and one person who works on grants quit, although the mandate may not have been the only reason for some of the departures, Schade said. Another nurse has declined, and a disciplinary hearing has been scheduled, Schade said. The nurse works in the jail and the juvenile justice center, he said. An unvaccinated nurse should not work in a confined space like the jail, Schade said. "It flies in the face of everything we are doing," he said. The health department was supplied with updated Moderna shots. If employees wanted to get the Novavax or Pfizer vaccine instead, that was OK, Schade said. A couple of employees preferred Novavax. "We sent them to a pharmacy and paid for it for them. That was fine," Schade said. Schade said he regrets losing any employees. "It's awkward for everybody," he said. "I hate to see anybody leave over it. That was their decision."