Oregon healthcare workers will need frequent vaccinations or tests

Oregon health workers will need to get COVID-19 shots or weekly tests, under a rule Governor Kate Brown plans to implement in late September.

As an alarming increase in the number of cases and hospitalizations threatens to overwhelm public health departments and local hospitals, Brown announced on Wednesday that she had asked the Oregon Health Authority to create new rules designed to do so. pressure on healthcare workers. They can either get vaccinated before September 30 or undergo frequent tests for the virus.

“The more contagious Delta variant changed everything,” Brown said in a press release. “This new safety measure is necessary to prevent Delta from causing serious illness among our first line of defense: our doctors, nurses, medical students and frontline health workers. “

The new rule falls short of what the state’s largest hospital association had called for: a rule or regulation giving individual health systems the power to require vaccination against covid-19 if they choose. This would have allowed Oregon to align with most of the other states.

But it still got the approval of the hospitals; The Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, the Oregon Nurses Association and the Oregon Health Care Association, which represents the long-term care industry, all issued statements in support of the new policy.

“With these additional tools, we can better respond to this evolving pandemic and provide the safest environment possible for those who depend on us,” said Becky Hultberg, President and CEO of the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Care Systems.

“This is a reasonable and sane approach that respects the individual choices of healthcare workers while protecting public health,” said Scott Palmer of the Oregon Nurses Association.

The upcoming rules look like the testing requirements President Joe Biden and California Governor Gavin Newsom put in place for federal and state workers amid the COVID-19 resurgence. But rather than targeting all state or federal government workers, Brown is focusing on health facility staff “who have direct or indirect contact with patients or infectious material.”

Brown’s office is still considering vaccination and testing requirements for state officials, the statement said. The governor, who has emphasized more localized decision-making on state mandates in recent weeks, called on private and public employers in the state to implement masking requirements and “facilitate their employees’ access to vaccines ”with policies such as paid time off for vaccinations and other incentives.

While vaccination warrants are allowed as a condition of employment in most industries, Oregon law prohibits health care providers from making them a condition of employment, unless vaccinations are required. by state or federal rules. The governor’s office said Brown plans to “tackle” the ban when lawmakers meet early next year.

Minutes after the governor’s announcement, the Legacy Health System said it would require all of its employees, contractors and volunteers to be vaccinated “as permitted by law.”

Other health systems did not wait for the governor’s announcement. In May, OHSU said it was developing a policy requiring everyone to be immunized on its campus. This policy will require staff, students and contractors to present proof of vaccination or to formally refuse vaccination. Those who refuse will be asked to take a training course and take additional safety precautions.

Kaiser Permanente announced Monday that it would impose vaccines on all employees, while allowing exemptions on religious or health grounds. PeaceHealth’s medical system announced on Tuesday that all of its caregivers will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit a qualifying medical exemption. Those who do not may be reassigned out of patient care.

State health systems have said they support a change in state law, while the Oregon Nurses Association has warned that if immunization mandates were not part of contract negotiations, it could prompt nurses to resign at a time of low morale and hospitals and long-term care facilities are already understaffed.

The increased demands come as COVID-19 patients are hospitalized at an alarming rate. As of Wednesday, 393 people were hospitalized with the virus in the state, 95 more than last Friday and 14 more than the day before.

State health officials released modeling results last week suggesting nearly 100 people could be hospitalized per day by mid-August if steps are not taken to contain the spread of the variant. delta. This same modeling suggested that the number of daily cases could reach nearly 1,200 during the same period. The state reported 1,575 new cases on Tuesday.

The state had 393 non-intensive care unit beds available Wednesday morning and 110 free intensive care beds.

Despite worrying trends and calls from its own health advisers to get people vaccinated as soon as possible, the new requirements for health care workers will not be implemented until September 30. Brown’s office said that an eight-week deadline “will give employers time to prepare for implementation, and give currently unvaccinated healthcare workers time to be fully immunized.”

Vaccination rates for healthcare workers are higher than rates for the general population, but they vary widely by region, ranging from a low of 43% in Harney County to a high of 81% in the county. from Washington.

Staff vaccinations are particularly critical for long-term care facilities, whose residents accounted for about half of the deaths in the pandemic’s first year.

About 68% of Oregon’s long-term care staff have been vaccinated, about 10% more than the national average, according to the Oregon Health Care Association, which represents the industry.

In Oregon, 70% of all health workers had been vaccinated by July 3. Rates vary by profession, with 87% of physicians vaccinated, 74% of registered nurses and 57% of certified nursing assistants.