“When I had concerns about my own patients…I was told to keep quiet”: Moral Injury in the Era of Mandates Among Healthcare Workers in Alberta, Canada
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Between 2021 and early 2022, vaccine mandates in Alberta, Canada, became among the most stringent in the country. This qualitative study explores the lived experiences of healthcare workers (HCWs) following the implementation of Covid-19 vaccine mandates in Alberta’s health sector. It draws on 80 responses to a single open-ended question from a survey of 190 HCWs in the province across vaccination statuses. We performed a manual sentiment analysis, classifying entries as positive, neutral, or negative - depending on their normative orientation towards vaccination mandates - using Weberian ideal types as a conceptual framework.
Most respondents (82.5%) expressed negative sentiments, with close to one fifth (17.5%) offering positive views; no entries were coded as neutral. Themes within negative responses included coercion, ethical conflict, professional exclusion, institutional betrayal, and suppression of dissent. Many vaccinated HCWs described complying under duress, challenging the assumption that uptake signals endorsement. The most salient theme was that of moral injury - defined as the distress caused by acting against one’s conscience, witnessing perceived harm, or remaining silent under institutional pressure. In contrast, positive responses emphasized professional duty and public safety, often rejecting the legitimacy of dissenting perspectives.
Our findings underscore the deeply polarizing nature of vaccination mandates and complicate dominant narratives that equate compliance with consent. Further, in contrast to clinical conceptions rooted in combat or bedside trauma, our analysis situates moral injury in the structural conditions created by public health policies, offering a lens for assessing their implications for the wellbeing of HCWs, quality care, and ethical healthcare practice and policy. We conclude that future public health policies, especially those justified under claims of emergency, must include built-in safeguards for ethical integrity and democratic participation.
