Local Health Systems Grappling With Vaccine Mandates As Delta Variant Emerges
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - More and more hospital systems are mandating their employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as the delta variant continues to emerge.
Currently, there is no vaccination mandate at Allegheny Health Network, UPMC, or Excela Health.
A spokesman for AHN tells KDKA he thinks there is just a general reluctance to mandate vaccinations for employees.
Meanwhile, one health care advocate says some nursing facilities are afraid a mandate would cause them to lose workers.
However, on Tuesday, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced employees at state-run health care and high-risk congregate-care facilities will be required to get vaccinated.
RELATED: Gov. Tom Wolf Announces COVID-19 Vaccine Requirement For State Employees In Health Care Facilities
Diane Menio, an advocate for the elderly in hospitals and nursing homes is baffled that all hospital systems don't mandate the COVID-19 vaccine.
"I don't understand it," she said. "I think vaccines have been proven, now with this new variant we are seeing people dying again and it's just unconscionable to me."
Highmark Health and AHN are asking all employees to get the vaccine and if employees aren't vaccinated, they will face some strict requirements - including wearing a face shield along with a face mask.
More than 70% of its 21,000 employees are fully vaccinated, but they are not ready for a mandate just yet.
"We want to do this in a gentle way to get our employees to move toward vaccination," said AHN Chief Medical Officer Dr. Donald Whiting. "If they feel like they don't want to then these added measures will help us protect our patients and our employees."
UPMC does not have a vaccine requirement for its 90,000 employees but a spokesperson says like AHN, over 70% of employees are vaccinated.
Their focus is on educating staff and understanding the reasoning as to why certain people have not been vaccinated.
"Our approach is to try to get people to get to wanting a vaccine for the right reasons because they know it's safe and they know it's effective for their own health and the loved ones around them as well as the people we take care of," said Dr. Graham Snyder, the Medical Director of Infection Prevention and Hospital Epidemiology at UPMC.
Right now, more than 63% of Pennsylvanians 18 and older are fully vaccinated and Menio believes all hospital employees should get vaccinated.
"Legally you can do it," she said. "There are major health systems in Pennsylvania that are requiring it and I think that's the way health systems should go."
An AHN spokesperson said they may consider weekly testing of unvaccinated employees. They pointed out their goal is to get all of their employees vaccinated by the end of September.
Meanwhile, Excela Health says they are reinforcing the importance of getting vaccinated but at this point, they have no plans for a mandate.
According to the American Hospital Association, nearly 1,500 hospitals across the country are requiring staff to get a COVID-19 vaccination.