6 NC hospital systems to require COVID-19 vaccines for employees

WFMY News 2 ^ | 7/22/21 | Megan Allman, Tom Santaniello

[Libloather]

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Six major North Carolina hospital groups announced Thursday that all employees must get the COVID-19 vaccine, including the three hospital systems in the Triad - Cone Health, Novant Health and Wake Forest Baptist Health.

Atrium Health, Duke Health and UNC Health hospitals will also require employees to be immunized against COVID-19, according to a release from the North Carolina Healthcare Association.

Hospital officials said this comes as the Delta variant continues to spread and vaccination rates in North Carolina are at a standstill.

According to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, nearly 99% of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths during May and June were among people not fully vaccinated.

Below is more information from each hospital system about the vaccine requirements. All information is attributed to the respective healthcare system.

Cone Health

Starting July 30, all Cone Health employees, including medical, dental, professional students, and volunteers, will be required to get the COVID-19 vaccine, Cone Health said in a release Thursday.

Cone Health said the decision comes as the Delta variant continues to rise in the U.S.

“I sincerely believe that this decision is absolutely the right thing to do for our patients and the communities we serve,” said Cone Health CEO Mary Jo Cagle, MD. “Vaccination is critically important in health care settings. It is one way that we ensure a safe environment for all members of our community.”

[Glad2bnuts]

STRIKE STRIKE STRIKE STRIKE STRIKE STRIKE STRIKE. What is more important, the job or your long term life? Let they lay you off, and come back when this “unicorn” of a disease is dead and buried. You won’t regret it. Ya’ll KNOW there are treatments USE THEM if you get sick. USE THEM on patients before they come to the hospital.

[kelly4c]

I’m wondering if your wife remembers coming down with a bad “flu” in around 2003. When Sars1 was going around? Some people seem to be immune and I wonder if this is one reason.