HOUSTON - A Texas hospital suspended more than 100 staffers who refused to get the COVID vaccine despite a mandate requiring that employees get the shot by this week.

Houston Methodist hospital, which oversees eight different locations had set a deadline this Monday for staff to get vaccinated or face suspension or possibly termination.

On Tuesday, the hospital said 178 full-time and part-time employees who were not granted an exemption or deferral for the vaccine were suspended two weeks without pay. Houston Methodist CEO Dr. Marc Boom said in a statement that those suspended are a small fraction of its more than 26,000 employees.

Of those employees suspended this week, 27 had received the first dose of the vaccine. 

“We won't have the final numbers for two weeks as employees can still get vaccinated with their second dose or with the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine,” Boom said. “I wish the number could be zero, but unfortunately, a small number of individuals have decided not to put their patients first.”

Last month, 117 employees sued the hospital over the vaccine requirement for staff, alleging the hospital "illegally requiring its employees to be injected with an experimental vaccine as a condition of employment."