More than 150 employees of Houston Methodist Hospital resigned or were terminated in June 2021 after refusing to comply with a fresh COVID-19 vaccination mandate, according to reports from CBS News and The New York Times. The hospital system required all employees to be vaccinated by June 7, 2021, and those who did not comply faced suspension or termination.
The mandate sparked significant controversy, with some employees arguing it violated their personal freedoms and rights. Houston Methodist CEO Marc Boom defended the policy, stating it was necessary to protect patients and staff. “The Texas Medical Board has made it clear that hospitals have a responsibility to protect their patients,” Boom said in a statement at the time. “Vaccinating our employees is the best way to do that.”
The hospital system’s decision to enforce the mandate led to a highly publicized legal challenge, which Houston Methodist ultimately won. A judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by 117 employees who sought to block the mandate, affirming the hospital’s right to require vaccination as a condition of employment.
The situation at Houston Methodist was not isolated. NPR reported in February 2026 that 178 hospital workers were suspended for not getting vaccinated, though the specific hospital was not named. This followed similar vaccine mandate disputes across the country, including cases at other Texas hospitals. In February 2026, over 150 Texas hospital workers had been fired or resigned over vaccine mandates, according to reports.
In a separate incident, a Texas hospital recorded the first case of the South American Lambda COVID-19 variant in 2021, as reported by WBUR. The Lambda variant was identified as a variant of interest by the World Health Organization, raising concerns about its potential to spread more easily or cause more severe illness.
