ORLANDO, Fla. — The vaccine mandate that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday will apply to at least 60,000 hospital workers in Central Florida. 

Like ICU nurse Megan Jones, who doesn’t get to bring her dog out to the dog park very often because she’s pretty busy nowadays. 

“I’ve been working a lot of overtime too to try and help with our staffing shortages,” Jones said. 

While omicron has filled up hospitals again, Jones said it’s nowhere near as bad as the height of the delta surge. 

“People were dying every single day,” she said. 

She said that before the delta wave, she and many of her coworkers were still on the fence about getting vaccinated.

But after what they saw, she said many were compelled to get the shot. 

“I just watched too many people die, and my coworkers watched too many people die, and I actually can’t think of one of them that didn’t end up getting vaccinated,” she said. 

After that sobering reminder, she won’t have to worry about the vaccine mandate for health care workers, which was upheld by the Supreme Court Thursday. 

The Florida Hospital Association supports health care worker vaccinations, but the association's CEO, Mary Mayhew, said federal mandates may worsen the already serious shortages. 

“At a time when we need to be boosting morale, that is absolutely leading to further confusion,” she said. 

But Jones said she doesn’t think it will be vaccine mandates that make people quit, but the very real burnout. 

“Our staffing shortages are unlike anything I’ve ever heard about," she said. "It is absolutely insane."

Health care workers who don’t get the vaccine will just have to get tested weekly, but there are medical and religious exemptions provided.