Administrators at hospitals around the nation are issuing mandates for COVID-19 vaccines to their entire workforce in light of spiking cases primarily due to the Delta variant and vaccine hesitancy among their staff. Many facilities also cite that enforcing vaccination across their facilities helps protect their staff, who’ve borne the brunt of the pandemic, and their patients and facility visitors. While these healthcare facilities have always encouraged their staff members to get vaccinated, some going so far as offering incentives to do so, many now feel they must require the shots as a condition of employment to ensure facility-wide compliance and protection against the virus. The number of facilities requiring vaccinations is rapidly growing and those who are hesitant to draw the hardline won’t have a choice when the federal government steps in.
Feds Overrule Hospitals Rejecting MandatesAccording to estimates from the American Hospital Association, about 2,150 hospitals, or a little less than 60% of hospitals, had issued staff vaccination policies, as of August 18, 2021. This number was up from zero less than five months ago, but it still leaves numerous health systems that have chosen not to mandate vaccines. President Joe Biden unveiled new vaccine mandates on September 9 that force hospitals that haven’t already issued their own mandates to require COVID-19 vaccinations among its employees to combat the pandemic and the more contagious Delta variant.
Governors in some states don’t agree with vaccination mandates and have taken steps to ban them. The National Academy for State Health Policy listed 23 states that have issued statewide COVID-19 vaccine mandates for healthcare workers, as of September 2021, but some allow workers to opt-out and undergo weekly testing instead. Alternately, 10 states banned vaccine mandates through legislation signed by their governors. While many of these bans on vaccination mandates impact healthcare workers, four states exempt health organizations. The states with bans include:
Many hospitals already feeling the strain of staffing shortages due to the toll the pandemic has taken on its healthcare workers may see this strain further increased by COVID-19 vaccine mandates. Several facilities across the nation have already experienced protests, staff resignations, and lawsuits. Healthcare facilities often rely on travel nurses to help fill vacant positions at least temporarily, but some traveling nurses are declining jobs in facilities or states mandating vaccines because they don't want to get inoculated, further exacerbating staffing shortages.
Still, other healthcare facilities have held to their mandates and terminated employees who refused vaccination. While some facilities have only terminated a handful of their employees for noncompliance, others have fired more than 100 staff members. Losing employees due to the hardline presented by vaccine mandates is a concern for some hospitals because of ongoing staffing shortages. However, many facilities felt the risk of having unvaccinated staff who could infect patients and other staff members outweighed their staffing worries.
The list of hospitals and health systems mandating COVID-19 vaccinations among its staff continues to grow nearly daily. As of October 18th, 2021, the following healthcare facilities had implemented vaccination mandates, but healthcare workers can expect the list to continue growing as the new CMS rules loom.
List of hospitals requiring COVID vaccine for staff >
Know of a hospital/system that we've missed? Leave your comment below.