September 21, 2021

(Tualatin, Ore.) – COVID-19 vaccines are safe, effective and essential for individual and community health. Nurses are committed to following the science, prioritizing Oregonians’ health and safety and educating the public about vaccines. That’s why Oregon nurses were one of the first in line to get COVID-19 vaccines and why nurses have one of the highest immunization rates of any profession. Nurses and health care workers who were initially vaccine-hesitant have continued to educate themselves about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines and more workers are choosing to get vaccinated.  

ONA calls upon all nurses and health care workers to get vaccinated before the Oct. 18 deadline or to fill out the necessary paperwork for a medical or deeply held religious belief exception. If nurses choose not to get vaccinated and do not submit a valid exception request, hospitals and health care companies may decide to find a reasonable accommodation for them, remove them from their normal work schedule or even terminate them from their jobs. 

Losing even one nurse from a patient’s bedside will deepen Oregon's nurse staffing crisis and endanger community health. ONA expects hospital and health care system CEOs to follow federal labor law and sit down with nurses to bargain the impact of workplace vaccination policies and find ways at-risk health care workers can continue contributing during the surge.  

Honoring workers’ rights to negotiate workplace changes will help build trust and ensure our communities can get the care they need quickly. Hospital executives must listen to frontline nurses and health care workers and support them with common-sense actions including providing paid time off to receive vaccinations, guaranteed paid time off in the event of adverse side effects from vaccinations, ensuring worker safety with personal protective equipment (PPE), and negotiating the impacts of the vaccine mandate on working conditions. Nurses want to continue caring for our communities and there is a lot more hospitals can do to help make that happen.

The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) is the state’s largest and most influential nursing organization. We are a professional association and labor union which represents 15,000 nurses and allied health workers throughout the state. Our mission is to advocate for nursing, quality health care and healthy communities. For more information visit: www.OregonRN.org.