Major Hawaii Hospitals Announce COVID Vaccine Mandates for Employees

Four of Hawaii’s major hospital systems today announced that they are requiring their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, joining a rapidly growing group of nationwide healthcare employers who are pushing for the vaccine .

The Healthcare Association of Hawaii, the state’s trade group for hospitals and nursing homes, also announced today that it supports a mandate to vaccinate healthcare workers.

Vaccination warrants come amid an increase in COVID cases in Hawaii and nationwide as the highly contagious delta variant takes hold.

In just two weeks, the average number of cases in the state soared 163%. The state reported a record 622 new infections on Friday, followed by 485 on Saturday and 452 on Sunday, the three highest daily counts since the start of the pandemic.

Policies vary slightly by hospital and should include limited exceptions.

Adventist Health Castle requires employees to be immunized by September 30, while Hawaii Pacific Health and Queen’s Health System have set an October 1 deadline for employee immunizations. Kaiser Permanente also said it requires its employees to be vaccinated.

Hawaii Pacific Health also clarified that any employee with a medical or religious exemption from the vaccine will need to be tested regularly for COVID.

The Healthcare Association of Hawaii also supports mandatory vaccinations, but with the caveat that the Food and Drug Administration first issues full approval for at least one of the available vaccines.

President Joe Biden recently said such approval could come between late August and October. The professional group also recommends that exemptions be granted for medical or religious reasons.

“Our board of directors voted overwhelmingly in favor of this decision,” HAH President and CEO Hilton Raethel said in a press release. “It’s the right thing to do to protect patients, residents and employees, and the entire community. “