Mayo Clinic terminates 700 employees for failing to comply with vaccine mandate

The Mayo Clinic hospital system in Minnesota has reportedly fired 700 employees who failed to comply with its COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Employees of the Mayo Clinic were given until Monday to receive their first dose of the vaccine, or to obtain a medical or religious exemption to the mandate. The clinic said that about 1% of its 73,000 person staff failed to comply with the mandate.

"While final numbers are still not available, nearly 99% of staff across all Mayo Clinic locations have complied with the required vaccination program, meaning they have been vaccinated or have received medical or religious exemptions," the clinic said in a statement to the Star Tribune.

The clinic said that the percentage of staff that it has had to let go is comparable to the figures of other health care systems with similar mandates in place, adding that officials granted the majority of exemption requests made by employees.

Those fired due to failure to receive a vaccine will be welcomed back to their jobs should they choose to receive the vaccine at a later date.