Coronavirus Litigation: Can Employers Require Employee Vaccinations? The plaintiffs in one of the nation's first court cases over employer-required COVID vaccinations are among the heroes of the pandemic—nurses fighting to remain unvaccinated. Houston Methodist Hospital suspended unvaccinated employees on June 6. June 10, 2021, 11am PDT | Irvin Dawid Share "High levels of vaccination coverage are the way out of this pandemic,” said Dr. Michael Ryan, emergencies chief at the World Health Organization, reported the Associated Presson on June 7. Ryan estimated that the coverage needed to be 80% to prevent "imported," variant-driven infections that are responsible for the surge underway in the U.K.