Cone Health, Novant Health and Wake Forest Baptist Hospital are requiring vaccines for all employees.Cone Health will require all employees, medical and dental staff, professional students and volunteers to get the COVID-19 vaccine, effective July 30. Novant Health will require all team members be fully vaccinated by Sept. 15.Click the video player above to watch headlines from WXII 12 News.Duke University Health System, UNC Medical Center, UNC Rex, UNC Johnston, UNC Chatham, UNC Rockingham and UNC Southeastern will also require vaccinations for all employees. The hospitals are following a recommendation from the North Carolina Healthcare Association.The decision comes as the delta variant of COVID-19 now makes up 83% of COVID-19 cases in the United States. It accounts for between 50% and 60% of cases in North Carolina.”With the new delta variant being far more potent than the original virus, we view it as essential that each of our teammates receive their vaccination to protect themselves, their families and the people in their care,” Wake Forest Baptist Hospital and Atrium Health said in a statement. “We view this vaccine no differently than our requirement for our teammates to get an annual flu shot, as well as be vaccinated for measles, chicken pox and other infectious diseases,” the statement continues.That figure will likely increase to 95% by the beginning of August, Cone Health says. The hospitals say the decision to require the vaccine for all employees allows them to best care for their community, their patients and each other.”Vaccination is critically important in health care settings. It is one way that we ensure a safe environment for all members of our community,” Cone Health CEO Mary Jo Cagle said in a statement.Cone Health says COVID-19 is rapidly becoming “a pandemic of the unvaccinated” as more than 97% of hospitalizations are among unvaccinated individuals.Four unvaccinated health care workers in North Carolina have died from COVID-19, and 99.2% of COVID-19-related deaths are among unvaccinated people, according to Cone Health.In a statement, Novant Health acknowledged its “tens of thousands of team members who eagerly received the vaccine,” but said vaccination rates are lulling across the country, including at Novant Health.”This disease is preventable thanks to a safe and effective vaccine, and we are committed to doing everything we can to bring an end to this pandemic,” the Novant Health statement reads.In North Carolina, 57% of adults are fully vaccinated.
Cone Health, Novant Health and Wake Forest Baptist Hospital are requiring vaccines for all employees.
Cone Health will require all employees, medical and dental staff, professional students and volunteers to get the COVID-19 vaccine, effective July 30. Novant Health will require all team members be fully vaccinated by Sept. 15.
Click the video player above to watch headlines from WXII 12 News.
Duke University Health System, UNC Medical Center, UNC Rex, UNC Johnston, UNC Chatham, UNC Rockingham and UNC Southeastern will also require vaccinations for all employees.
The hospitals are following a recommendation from the North Carolina Healthcare Association.
The decision comes as the delta variant of COVID-19 now makes up 83% of COVID-19 cases in the United States. It accounts for between 50% and 60% of cases in North Carolina.
“With the new delta variant being far more potent than the original virus, we view it as essential that each of our teammates receive their vaccination to protect themselves, their families and the people in their care,” Wake Forest Baptist Hospital and Atrium Health said in a statement.
“We view this vaccine no differently than our requirement for our teammates to get an annual flu shot, as well as be vaccinated for measles, chicken pox and other infectious diseases,” the statement continues.
That figure will likely increase to 95% by the beginning of August, Cone Health says.
The hospitals say the decision to require the vaccine for all employees allows them to best care for their community, their patients and each other.
“Vaccination is critically important in health care settings. It is one way that we ensure a safe environment for all members of our community,” Cone Health CEO Mary Jo Cagle said in a statement.
Cone Health says COVID-19 is rapidly becoming “a pandemic of the unvaccinated” as more than 97% of hospitalizations are among unvaccinated individuals.
Four unvaccinated health care workers in North Carolina have died from COVID-19, and 99.2% of COVID-19-related deaths are among unvaccinated people, according to Cone Health.
In a statement, Novant Health acknowledged its “tens of thousands of team members who eagerly received the vaccine,” but said vaccination rates are lulling across the country, including at Novant Health.
“This disease is preventable thanks to a safe and effective vaccine, and we are committed to doing everything we can to bring an end to this pandemic,” the Novant Health statement reads.
In North Carolina, 57% of adults are fully vaccinated.