Sutter Health announces COVID-19 vaccine requirement for all employees
(KION) Sutter Health announced Wednesday that it will be requiring all of its employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Sept. 30.
The requirement applies to all employees, physicians, volunteers and vendors who are onsite at a Sutter facility or providing care to patients elsewhere. All of them will need to provide documentation of vaccination or have an approved accommodation for a valid medical or religious exemption.
“Our rigorous COVID-19 infection prevention protocols have so far helped protect the health and safety of our patients and our workforce,” said William Isenberg, M.D., Ph.D., Sutter Health’s chief quality and safety officer. “However, these measures alone are not enough against the increasing threat of highly infectious variants like delta.”
“The only way to get ahead of this virus once and for all is for everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated as soon as possible,” Dr. Isenberg said. “The unfortunate reality is that the delta variant is driving a surge in hospitalizations throughout our network and around the country, mostly among unvaccinated people.”
Sutter says the new policy comes as the Delta variant is increasing the number of COVID-19 cases.
Sutter Health has locations in Santa Cruz, Soquel, Capitola, Scotts Valley, Aptos and Watsonville.
On Tuesday, Montage Health announced that it is requiring all employees to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 1. Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital said it is requiring new hires to be vaccinated, and Dominican Hospital currently does not have a vaccine requirement.
