Epic Systems will require all US-based employees to be vaccinated by October

VERONA, Wisconsin – Epic Systems will require all its U.S.-based staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by October 1 of this year, according to internal guidelines on the employee website updated Friday for all the employees.

When contacted for comment, an Epic spokesperson asked News 3 Now to call their human resources department on Monday for more information.

The privately-held medical software company is one of the largest employers in Dane County with approximately 11,000 employees, of which approximately 10,000 are based in Dane County. Currently, nearly 97% of the staff at the Verona campus have been vaccinated, according to internal company guidelines.

Employees are currently in a phased return to the office, with a requirement to return to the office at least four days a week starting in August. The company has been offering vaccination clinics to its employees since March and has provided additional clinic dates so that employees can get vaccinated before October if they have not already been vaccinated.

Employers in Wisconsin are legally able to require vaccines from their employees under federal law, although few have so far taken this step. Gov. Tony Evers has vetoed legislation drafted by Republicans this year that would have banned employers from requiring the vaccine.

Epic Systems is joining with other big tech companies like Facebook, Google, Twitter and Netflix in demanding that their employees get vaccinated. Twitter has also suspended the reopening of offices.

In Wisconsin, a few health care systems have begun to make employee vaccination mandatory, including Children’s Wisconsin and the Medical College of Wisconsin. Multi-state health systems with major presences in Wisconsin, including SSM Health and Ascension Health, have also started requiring vaccines.

Last August, Epic Systems sparked national headlines and employee reactions after initially asking employees to return to work during the pandemic. The backlash resulted in a policy reversal that allowed employees to continue working from home until at least the end of 2020, a policy that spanned the first few months of 2021.

Statewide, COVID-19 cases are back on the rise, on Friday recording its highest total of new cases of more than 1,000 – a new daily tally the state has not seen since early April .

The PHMDC, Rock County Public Health and others are now strongly encouraging the wearing of masks by everyone in indoor public spaces, regardless of vaccination status, to help control the spread driven largely by the highly transmissible and more serious Delta variant.

This story will be updated.

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