Two of Colorado’s largest health systems will require all employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus this fall, part of a growing push to immunize more medical workers as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rise once again.
UCHealth, which previously had said it planned to issue a vaccine mandate later this year, announced Wednesday that it will require medical staff, trainees, volunteers and others who work at its facilities to get immunized by Oct. 1.
Denver Health employees will have to get vaccinated by Nov. 1.
Both UCHealth and Denver Health will allow their workers to be exempted from getting COVID-19 vaccines for medical or religious reasons. But employees who otherwise refuse to get the shots can be fired, according to the health systems.
“We want to ensure our hospital and health care clinics are the safest place for people to receive care,” said Dr. Heather Young, an infectious disease physician at Denver Health, adding, “By doing this mandatory vaccination, we really hope to be a model for the community.”
The COVID-19 vaccine mandates by UCHealth and Denver Health follow similar action that so far has largely taken place either on a national level or in other states. In Colorado, only Banner Health — with facilities in Fort Collins, Loveland, Greeley and Sterling — already had required employees to get immunized.
But as the more-contagious delta variant of the virus has spread widely, more U.S. hospitals and other entities, including the Department of Veterans Affairs, are aiming to boost vaccination rates by requiring employees to get the shots.
Google, which has 1,600 employees in Colorado, announced Wednesday that employees will have to get vaccinated to return to work in person. Employees can keep working from home through Oct. 18, according to a blog post by the company.
President Joe Biden is also expected to announce a vaccine mandate for all civilian federal workers, The New York Times reported.
The new vaccine requirements come as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week advised vaccinated people to wear masks in indoor places in counties with “high” or “substantial” spread of the virus. Most of Colorado, including the Denver metro area, meets those requirements.
Coronavirus infections are increasing in Colorado, with the state health department reporting 3,988 new cases last week. On Wednesday, 357 people were hospitalized with suspected or confirmed cases of the virus, which is up 18 people from the day before, according to the agency.
Both Denver Health and UCHealth have relatively high vaccination rates among staff. An estimated 80% to 85% of the 8,000 employees at Denver Health are immunized, while almost 85% of the 26,000 employees at UCHealth are inoculated.
By comparison, 62% of all eligible Coloradans — or more than 3 million people — are fully vaccinated.
HealthOne and Centura Health have not imposed COVID-19 vaccine mandates for their employees, with the latter saying that it will review such a decision once federal regulators give final approval for the shots, which currently are being administered under an emergency use authorization.
UCHealth and Centura Health both have offered $500 bonuses to employees who either already got the shot, or who do so by mid-August.
Dr. Michelle Barron, senior medical director of infection prevention for UCHealth, said patients and visitors to the hospital won’t have to get the shot, though they’re encouraged to do so.
The Oct. 1 deadline is meant to give everyone “ample opportunity” to schedule their shots around summer vacations and other commitments, she said.
“The focus is the safety of our staff, our patients, our visitors,” she said.
UCHealth has required employees to get the seasonal flu vaccine for several years, Barron said. It was controversial at the beginning, and some people went to work at other hospitals to avoid getting the shot. That’s less likely to be an issue with the COVID-19 vaccine, since there’s widespread agreement that health care workers need to be vaccinated, she said.
“I think everyone is pretty much on the same page,” she said.
Initially, it wasn’t clear if hospitals would mandate the vaccine, because it appeared the United States would reach herd immunity and large COVID-19 outbreaks would be a thing of the past, Barron said. Now, cases are rising nationwide, and some hard-hit states are reporting shortages of intensive-care beds and staff.
“Clearly, that is not happening,” she said. “The delta variant is surging across the country.”