Colorado Hospitals Require Staff to Get Vaccinated Against COVID-19

Employees at four Colorado hospitals will need to be vaccinated against the coronavirus by this fall, the first terms for health care workers in the state.

But, even as the highly transmissible delta variant of the virus leads to an increase in the number of cases in Colorado, no other hospital system is ready to follow suit – although that could change quickly.

Arizona-based Banner Health, which operates hospitals in Greeley, Fort Collins, Sterling and Brush, announced last week that it would require COVID-19 vaccination as a “condition of employment,” meaning employees who do not comply could be terminated. Employees have until November 1 to be fully immunized.

In a press release announcing the warrant, Banner cited the delta variant and the need to protect patients and its staff as the reasons for issuing the order.

“We care about some of the most vulnerable people in our communities and we owe it to them to take all possible steps to ensure the safest care environment,” said Peter Fine, CEO of Banner Health, in an e- company-wide email sent last week and cited in press release. “We are taking this step to reduce the risk to our patients, their families, visitors and each other. “

Momentum for health worker vaccine mandates is building across the country.

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced this week that it will require frontline healthcare workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The American Hospital Association says it supports the mandates. So are other major medical groups, such as the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Nursing, which have joined more than 50 other organizations in a joint statement supporting immunization mandates for health workers. health, including those in nursing homes and other care centers.

A vaccine warrant from Houston Methodist Hospital has led more than 150 workers to quit or be fired. That warrant has withstood at least one legal challenge in a US district court in Texas.

But Colorado hospitals have so far moved more timidly.

Following Banner’s announcement, the Colorado Sun contacted other major hospital systems in the state. None of them have any imminent intention to announce a warrant.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment also has no plans to require healthcare workers to get vaccinated.

While saying employers may be able to force vaccination, a CDPHE spokeswoman told The Sun that “the state of Colorado is not currently pursuing any warrant.”

One reason may be that Colorado hospitals already have high vaccination rates, at least compared to the general public.

As of Tuesday afternoon, about 58% of Colorado’s population had received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. Hospital systems contacted by The Sun estimated their vaccination rates among all staff at at least 75%, with most exceeding 80%. The rates among frontline medical staff – doctors, nurses and others directly involved in patient care – are even higher.

But the current regulatory status of COVID-19 vaccines is even more important in the decision to make them mandatory. The Food and Drug Administration has yet to give them full approval – instead, the vaccines are administered through a fast-track approval process called emergency use authorization.

The FDA is expected to give full approval to at least one of the COVID vaccines, the one manufactured by Pfizer, in the coming weeks. While some employers have now moved forward with issuing warrants, many have been cautious about their legal authority to do so before the FDA gives full approval.

Most Colorado hospitals appear to be waiting for full FDA approval before making a decision.

“We don’t have a mandate at this time and will re-evaluate when the vaccine is approved by the FDA,” Centura Health spokesperson Kevin Massey wrote in an email. “We hope that more of our caregivers will choose to be vaccinated. “

Centura is part of several Colorado hospital systems offering employees incentives to get vaccinated. Centura and UCHealth, for example, offer employees $ 500 to get a full vaccine. Both systems say they have seen vaccination rates increase following the announcement of the incentive program.

But the deadline to get vaccinated to be eligible for these bonuses is approaching at Centura and UCHealth hospitals. UCHealth spokesman Dan Weaver said the system plans to issue a warrant in the fall, after the incentive program ends, although a specific date has yet to be set.

Hospitals statewide can also look at each other before deciding to issue a warrant. Especially in the Denver metro area, hospitals often share providers. Doctors who practice at UCHealth, for example, may also work at Denver Health.

This makes their decisions to issue vaccination warrants somewhat interconnected, and the fact that hospitals come together to issue warrants would put more pressure on workers to get vaccinated – because workers opposed to vaccination. couldn’t quit and then find a new job at a hospital across town.

Regardless of the human resource strategies at work, Colorado hospitals remain firmly in favor of immunization for all eligible people.

“We have been extremely keen to provide COVID-19 vaccines to as many people as possible,” wrote a spokesperson for HealthONE, owner of several major hospitals in the Denver metro area, including the Swedish Medical Center and the Medical Center of Aurora. in a report. “We have spent every day for over a year and a half fighting COVID-19, we have seen the impact it has had, and we know the vaccine is the next best step towards a sense of normalcy and the ability to get back to the activities we love with friends and family.