Effects of the COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate on Healthcare Workers’ Decisions to Refuse Vaccination and Quit Their Jobs from Canadian Hospitals

COVID-19 vaccine uptake and compliance implementation challenges exist among some Canadian healthcare workers (HCWs), including hospital administrators, despite free vaccination as a preventive measure to control the spread. Earlier studies have examined COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and refusal among Canadian HCWs, but not how the -19 vaccine and vaccine mandates may have influenced their decisions to refuse vaccination and quit their jobs. This qualitative phenomenological study involved exploring how Canadian hospital HCWs’ lived experiences with the COVID-19 vaccine and vaccine mandates affected their decisions to refuse COVID-19 vaccination and quit their jobs. The theory of reasoned action was used to guide interview questions to understand this topic. I recruited for Zoom interviews using both the online crowdsourcing Amazon Mechanical Turk (Mturk) platform and snowball sampling. All participants were Canadian HCWs who worked in a hospital with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate policy, between 20 and 60 years, possessed a Mturk verification ID, refused the COVID-19 vaccination, and quit their job due to vaccine mandate policies. Transcribed interviews were coded and analyzed using Quirkos thematic analysis with the following themes: safety, skepticism towards vaccine efficacy, newness of the vaccine, strain variability, public image, uncertainty, autonomy, and personal beliefs against mandated health interventions. These findings may help address ethical dimensions that are involved in mandatory vaccination policies and the importance of respecting individual autonomy and personal medical choices.