Nebraska state job ad touts lack of vaccine requirement

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s veterans affairs agency is facing questions from a state lawmaker after it published job advertisements for nurses touting the fact that the state doesn’t require its employees to get coronavirus vaccinations.

The ads on a state jobs website prominently note the lack of vaccination requirements for state employees, right after mentioning a $5,000 hiring bonus. In a separate mail advertisement, the state lists “No mandated COVID-19 vaccination” as one of the “many great benefits” of its nursing jobs.

State Sen. Carol Blood, of Bellevue, said she inquired about the ad after constituents with loved ones in Nebraska's state-run veterans homes brought it to her attention. Blood said she understands that the state faces a chronic nursing shortage but was concerned because many veterans' home residents are elderly and sick.

“It almost appears as if we saw this as an opportunity to scoop up people who don’t want to be vaccinated,” said Blood, whose district includes the Eastern Nebraska Veterans' Home. “I don’t know if that’s a really good strategy.”

The listings were posted shortly before Nebraska's largest hospital systems jointly announced that they will require their employees to get vaccinated.

The coalition includes Boys Town, Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals, Bryan Health, Methodist, CHI Health, Midwest Surgical Hospital, Children's Hospital & Medical Center and Nebraska Medicine. Several have reopened wards to cope with a surge in largely unvaccinated COVID-19 patients.

“I think we’re approaching a public health crisis,” said Dr. John Trapp, chief medical officer at Bryan Health.

The ads also come less than a year after the Nebraska Department of Veterans Affairs' director, John Hilgert, disclosed his own struggles with the virus and...