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Chapel Hill, North Carolina – UNC Health is extending the deadline for its employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, by deploying a probationary period that will end in early November.
UNC Health is still working to confirm the status of approximately 1,400 employees who do not comply with their COVID-19 vaccination status. Anyone who does not comply with the mandate as of Tuesday, September 21 will enter a trial vaccination period that will end on November 2. She will have one last chance to stay employed by getting the vaccine during this time.
Almost 95% of UNC Health employees are vaccinated.
UNC Health Southeastern medical staff chairman Dr Robin Peace said the extension was the result of a shortage of workers. She said she hopes the time extension gives unvaccinated employees time to see the importance of getting vaccinated.
“I think there is concern about labor shortages, especially with the wave we are seeing right now,” Dr Peace told WRAL. “We are always moving in the right direction.”
Many health experts believe that everyone who works in the medical field should be vaccinated.
“I think we have to hold each other to that higher standard as well,” said pediatrician Dr. Lori Langdon. “When we encourage patients to get vaccinated, we should be vaccinated.”
Coronavirus Vaccinations in North Carolina
“We are confident that we will be vaccinating the vast majority of our teammates,” said Alan Wolf of UNC Health. “We want to keep anyone who wishes to stay at UNC Health and we are working hard to accommodate employees with medical and religious issues.”
Wolf said the system approved about 1,100 exemptions for medical or religious reasons. On September 7, Wolf said about 3,700 employees, or about 9%, still had not confirmed they were vaccinated or needed an exemption for medical or religious reasons.
By comparison, Duke Health representative Sarah Avery notes that nearly 97% of Duke University Health System employees have met COVID vaccination requirements as of Monday. Only a “very small number” of the 23,000 employees are expected to be non-compliant. For those still working on compliance, more than half have already received a dose of the vaccine.
The two hospital systems were among several statewide that announced staff vaccine mandates in July.
The deadline for the WakeMed health system is November 12. WakeMed said about 80 percent of its staff are vaccinated. Meanwhile, Wake County announced that 87% of its employees certified they were fully vaccinated on Monday.
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