St. Joseph’s Health to require COVID vaccinations for all employees

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — St. Joseph’s Health is going to mandate that all its more than 4,000 employees get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Employees who do not meet criteria for exemption from the requirement and fail to show proof of vaccination by the deadline will have their jobs terminated.

Trinity Health, the Catholic health system that is the parent of St. Joseph’s, announced Thursday that, effective immediately, it will require all its 117,000 employees in 22 states nationwide to be vaccinated. The mandate applies to all clinical staff, contractors, and those conducting business in its health-care facilities.

St. Joseph’s is the first hospital in the Syracuse region so far to mandate COVID vaccinations for employees.

Trinity said the requirement is “an effort to stop the spread of the virus and keep all patients, colleagues and the broader communities safe.”

“Safety is one of our core values. We feel it is important that we take every step available to us to stop the spread and protect those around us-especially the most vulnerable in our communities who cannot be vaccinated including young children and the more than 10 million people who are immunocompromised,” Trinity Health President and CEO Mike Slubowski, said in a statement. Over the last year, Trinity Health has counted our own colleagues and patients in the too-high coronavirus death toll. Now that we have a proven way to prevent COVID-19 deaths, we are not hesitating to do our part.”

Most Trinity health facilities will require proof of vaccination by Sept. 21. Exemptions are possible for religious or health reasons and must be approved by Trinity Health,

Trinity Health says it has “strongly encouraged vaccination” for all employees since the COVID vaccines rolled out. So far, the health system estimates nearly 75 percent of Trinity Health employees have already received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine. It “now looks to close the gap with this new requirement.”

Trinity Health includes 91 hospitals, as well as 113 continuing-care locations. Based in Livonia, Michigan, it generates annual operating revenue of nearly $20 billion.