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Novant Employees Face Job Loss If Non-Compliant With Vaccine Mandate

As of this week, about 375 Novant Health employees were considered to be non-compliant with the network's vaccine mandate. KERI BROWN/WFDD

Novant Health says that about 375 staffers are in danger of termination for not complying with the network's vaccine mandate. 

Novant officials say that roughly 98 percent of the system's 35,000 employees have complied with the health system's mandatory vaccination program.

According to a news release, workers are considered compliant if they have received the single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, a first dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine, or if they have been granted a medical or religious exemption.

Those who have received a first dose have until October 15 to get their second shot.

Employees who have been granted exemptions must undergo weekly COVID-19 testing, as well as wear approved PPE and eyewear protection while working.

Officials say that as of this week, roughly 375 workers across the Novant network are non-compliant, meaning they cannot return to work. Those employees will be given an opportunity to comply over a five-day, unpaid suspension period. Their employment will be terminated if they remain non-compliant beyond that time. 

One Novant physician said earlier this month that hospitals are once again being stretched thin with the recent surge in cases, creating what he called a “health crisis.”

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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