St. Luke’s requires COVID-19 vaccine for employees, providers. ‘This is the right time’
St. Luke’s Health System soon will require COVID-19 vaccinations for all eligible employees, the hospital announced Thursday.
The news was released on the same day that Saint Alphonsus Health System, the other big provider in the Treasure Valley, made a similar announcement.
In a press release, St. Luke’s President and CEO Chris Roth said that the move was necessary to curb future ill effects of the ongoing pandemic. St. Luke’s said in the release that 77% of staffers are fully vaccinated already.
“In consideration of Idaho’s low rate of COVID-19 vaccination, the emergence and rapid spread of the Delta variant, the loosening of public health restrictions on masking and gatherings, as well as plans to return to full capacity for indoor venues, schools, and public gatherings in the fall, St. Luke’s leadership believes this is the right time to take the step of requiring the COVID-19 vaccine of all team members,” Roth said.
In its statement, the hospital said it would allow exemptions for team members with religious objections or those with a medical condition that makes getting vaccinated unsafe. A COVID-19 vaccine now will be added to the list of the health system’s required immunizations, which includes an annual flu shot and the tetanus vaccine, according to Taylor Reeves, a St. Luke’s spokesperson.
All “employees, providers, contractors, students and volunteers” at the hospital’s locations around Idaho will be required to have at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by Sept. 1, the release said. Employees who fail to comply could be terminated, Reeves said, and volunteers and contractors will not be permitted to work in St. Luke’s facilities without the vaccine.
The decision comes at a time when vaccination rates have slowed across the United States, and Idaho’s rate has ranked near the bottom from the get-go, with not even half of the population 12 and older vaccinated. Health experts have issued warnings about a more contagious and dangerous strain of the virus — known as the Delta variant — becoming dominant in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
An Associated Press analysis estimates that nearly all recent COVID-19 deaths are in unvaccinated people. Research suggests that the COVID-19 vaccines available in the U.S. are still effective at preventing severe disease and death in patients who contract a variant.
“With more than 300 million doses administered in the United States alone, the COVID-19 vaccines have proven to be extremely safe and effective, driving down positive cases and hospitalizations,” Jim Souza, chief physician executive for St. Luke’s, said in the release.
The hospital has not announced a date by which all team members will be required to be fully vaccinated, Reeves said. The second dose is generally received either two or three weeks after the first, for which the deadline is Sept. 1.
This story was originally published July 8, 2021 at 4:36 PM.
