SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Hundreds of CoxHealth employees have a decision to make in the coming week- Get a vaccine or lose work.

This announcement comes one week after mercy suspended some of its workers for not getting their shots.

When CoxHealth announced its vaccine mandate back in august, 70 percent of its workers had received their vaccinations.

Now, just one week before that October 15th deadline, the number is at 92 percent vaccinated.

Those without a vaccine or an approved medical or religious exemption by Friday will be placed on a 30-day unpaid leave.

Cox hopes the number will rise between now and the deadline as some workers go and get the shot.

A spokesperson also tells us fifty people have already resigned over the mandate issue.

Cox has about 12,500 employees in its system.

That 8 percent still not vaccinated comes out to about 1,000 cox workers who could face suspension.

Mercy’ Springfield’s 28-day suspensions affected around 250 of its staff members.

This week, we heard from mercy COO Brent Hubbard about the status of those employees.

“There are those that are still considering the vaccination. There are some who have decided to go ahead and retire. There are those who have decided to get out of healthcare entirely. But at the end of the day, we are 100-percent confident this was the right decision,” says Hubbard.

CoxHealth says it’s confident patient care will not be disrupted.

For one, it believes it will see many employees finally getting their shots in the coming days.

In addition, the health system is bringing several new people on board to help with the staffing shortage already going on.

Cox hired 457 people in September and 400 in august.