Loyola Medicine will require all of its employees and doctors to get COVID-19 vaccinations, the system announced Thursday, making it one of the first hospital systems in the Chicago area to make the vaccines mandatory.
The requirement will apply to those working at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Gottlieb Memorial Hospital in Melrose Park and MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn as well as Loyola’s other locations. That includes 9,523 employees and 500 affiliated community doctors.
With the move, Loyola joins a growing list of health systems across the country mandating the shots.
“Safety for our patients and our residents and colleagues and physicians really is a top priority for us,” said Shawn Vincent, president and CEO of Loyola Medicine. “We certainly know that the COVID-19 vaccine is really the single most effective tool we have in slowing down and even stopping the spread of COVID.
As health care professionals, we are responsible for doing everything we can to really end the pandemic and to save lives in our community,” he said.
The system estimates that about 80% of its employees have already received at least one dose of the vaccine. People who want exemptions for religious or health reasons must formally request them, and those who do not meet criteria for exemption will lose their jobs if they refuse vaccinations.
The requirement will apply throughout the Trinity Health system, which is over Loyola. Trinity Health has more than 117,000 employees in 22 states.
Most locations will require proof of vaccination by Sept. 21.
System leaders had been considering whether to require the vaccines for several months, Vincent said. The spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus accelerated that decision-making process, he said.
“This really made us move much more quickly in making a decision,” he said.
The delta variant is considered especially contagious and is now the dominant variant in the U.S., though there were only 208 known cases in Illinois as of Wednesday.
Vincent acknowledged Thursday that the new mandate may cause some employees to leave their jobs.
“We understand this decision may not resonate with all of our colleagues, but really, after careful consideration, we know this is the right decision,” Vincent said. “We stand by our core value of safety.”
Loyola Medicine appears to be one of the first hospital systems in the Chicago area to require employees to get the shots. So far, many health care and other companies have held off on requiring the vaccines, at least in part, because they still have only emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, not full approval.
But that could soon change, especially with the delta variant spreading quickly.
Hospitals across the Chicago area are considering mandatory vaccinations for employees, said Danny Chun, a spokesman for the Illinois Health and Hospital Association.
Edward-Elmhurst Health, which has hospitals in Elmhurst and Naperville, is not yet requiring the vaccines but has a team of health experts “preparing for mandatory COVID-19 vaccines for those who work for or in the system,” said spokesman Keith Hartenberger in a statement.
Advocate Aurora Health, which has 10 hospitals in Illinois, is not requiring employees to be vaccinated “yet,” but is “strongly encouraging them to get vaccinated,” spokesman Mike Riopell said in a statement.
Sinai Chicago, which runs Mount Sinai and Holy Cross hospitals, is “currently considering our options and policies on mandatory COVID vaccinations moving forward, but have not yet made a decision,” spokesman Dan Regan said in a statement.
Rush University Medical Center spokesman Charlie Jolie said in an email that, “While we believe the COVID vaccine will become mandatory at most hospitals in the future,” Rush does not yet have specific timelines or plans to share with employees or the public.
Already, some hospitals in Southern Illinois have said they will require employees to be vaccinated. SSM Health, which has hospitals in Mount Vernon and Centralia, announced late last month that it would require all of its employees, providers and volunteers to be fully vaccinated by the end of September, ahead of flu season. That system also has locations in Missouri, Oklahoma and Wisconsin.
BJC HealthCare, which has hospitals in Alton, Belleville and Shiloh, announced last month it would require those who work in its facilities to be fully vaccinated by Sept. 15. The system also has hospitals in Missouri.
A number of other health systems across the country have started to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for employees, including University of Pennsylvania Health System, Mass General Brigham and Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.
I have not seen a healthcare professional in years. Now that they are all going to be vaccinated against a non-existent threat, I will not return to one in the future.
I work in the health care field. I know 1 doctor who isn’t a sell out. You just have to find them.
Oh f-king yeah. Spin your cylinder with that one bullet in it, put it to your forehead and pull the trigger.
These f-king doctors work for the insurance companies and the pharmaceutical companies that reward them with bonuses for prescribing poisons designed for the global genocide. I do not trust any doctor as far as I can throw this house I’m sitting in. They have become a part of the Mengele division of the international corporate mafia. Many will have to answer for their crimes against humanity once the country is re-secured under the common law and the grand jury investigations into the part the doctors, and everyone who assisted them, have played in this attempted genocide on the world population.