By Shannon Thaler, Dailymail.com
Healthcare company Kaiser Permanente put 5,000 of their 200,000 US staff on unpaid leave as of October 1 because they failed to get their Covid-19 vaccine.
The Oakland, California-based healthcare provider announced the vaccine mandate on August 2, 2021 and gave its employees until September 30 to get vaccinated.
‘When we announced our vaccination requirement…our overall employee and physician vaccination rate across Kaiser Permanente was 78 percent,’ the company said in its most recent statement.
‘Since then, we have made remarkable progress: More than 92 percent of our employees nationwide have been vaccinated,’ it added.
While Kaiser saw 14 percent of their unvaccinated employees get the shots so they didn’t lose their jobs, the two percent who are currently suspended without pay have until December 1 to change their mind and also get vaccinated.
Healthcare company Kaiser Permanente put 5,000 of their 200,000 US staff on unpaid leave as of October 1 because they failed to get their Covid-19 vaccine
Two per cent of US employees failed to meet the vaccination deadline and have been suspended without pay. They have until December 1 to change their minds, get vaccinated and return to work
The Oakland, California-based healthcare provider announced the vaccine mandate on August 2, 2021 and gave its employees until September 30 to get vaccinated
As for the other six percent, the statement noted that the ‘active employees have responded to our request’.
‘We hope none of our employees will choose to leave their jobs rather than be vaccinated, but we won’t know with certainty until then (December 1),’ Kaiser officials said.
Greg A. Adams, Kaiser’s chair and chief executive officer, said in the August 2 statement, which announced the mandate: ‘Large groups of unvaccinated people are fueling the current increase in cases and 97 percent to 99 percent of Covid-19 hospital admissions are unvaccinated patients.
Kaiser’s CEO Greg A Adams encouraged ‘all health systems and business and industry leaders across the country to play a role in ending the pandemic’ by also implementing a vaccine mandate
‘Making vaccination mandatory is the most effective way we can protect our people, our patients and the communities we serve.’
Adams then encouraged ‘all health systems and business and industry leaders across the country to play a role in ending the pandemic by doing the same’.
On Monday, data from Johns Hopkins University showed that the US is continuing to win its battle against Covid-19 as cases and hospitalizations declined dramatically across the country.
Officials recorded 169,207 new cases of the virus with a seven-day rolling average of 105,200 – a decrease of 23 percent from the rolling average of 137,270 reported four weeks ago.
More than half of US states – 36 in total – and the District of Columbia have seen Covid infections either decline or hold steady over the last week, a DailyMail.com analysis of the data shows.
More than half of US states – 36 in total – and the District of Columbia have seen Covid infections either decline or hold steady over the last week
Hospitalizations have also fallen, with 70,153 seeking care, a 30.5 percent drop from the 101,000 patients recorded this same time last month, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The growth rate of new deaths has slowed, too, compared to the same time last week – when deaths had risen 57 percent over a four-week period. Two weeks ago they had risen 91 percent.
Atotal of 2,110 virus-related fatalities were recorded on Monday with a seven-day rolling average of 1,929 – a 23 percent increase from the 1,561 average deaths recorded one month ago.
Experts say that fatalities are a lagging indicator and often don’t start to decline until three or four weeks after cases and hospitalizations do.
Despite the drop in the number of infections and hospitalizations Kaiser hasn’t been the only healthcare company to implement a vaccine mandate.
On Monday officials recorded 169,207 new cases of the virus with a seven-day rolling average of 105,200 in the US – a decrease of 23 per cent from the rolling average of 137,270 reported four weeks ago
Covid-19 hospitalizations have also fallen with 70,153 patients, a 30.5 per cent drop from the 101,000 patients recorded this same time last month
New York’s largest healthcare provider, Northwell Health, fired 1,400 employees on Monday who refused to get vaccinated.
Just one week earlier, the health system announced it had terminated two dozen ‘unvaccinated leaders’ at management level or above.
It is unclear what job titles the recently fired workers had and whether they were clinical or nonclinical workers.
Northwell Health says the remaining 76,000 workers have all received at least one dose of the vaccine.
The mandate for healthcare workers was issued in August by former Gov Andrew Cuomo and supported by Gov. Kathy Hochul when she succeeded him.
All healthcare workers in New York state at hospitals and nursing homes were required to get at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine by September 27.
Employees who refused to get the shots faced suspensions and termination.
The mandate is not just for those who directly deal with patients such as doctors and nurses but also administrators, cafeteria workers and even cleaners.
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