COVID-19 vaccines now mandated for staff at another large Tacoma medical system
Another medical system has joined others in Tacoma in requiring COVID-19 vaccines among its staff.
On Friday afternoon, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health announced it would be requiring vaccinations for its staff, following similar announcements on Monday from both Kaiser Permanente and MultiCare.
“Virginia Mason Franciscan Health will be requiring the COVID-19 vaccine for our employees and all who work in our facilities,” said Dr. Michael Anderson, chief medical officer for Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, in a statement.
“After careful consideration, we believe this is a necessary step in order to keep patients and team members safe, and to ensure our communities have full confidence in the safety of their care environments.”
Details as to any deadlines employees face to be vaccinated, or rules about exemptions, were not included in the announcement.
“We appreciate the dedication of our employees over the past year in addressing the devastating impacts of COVID-19 and are finalizing the details of the vaccine requirement,” he said.
Before Friday, VMFH had not yet announced any COVID-19 vaccine policy outside of “strongly” encouraging staff to be vaccinated.
Local health systems have faced increased pressure to consider vaccine mandates for workers as COVID-19 cases have soared in the area. The Washington State Hospital Association has urged all hospital sites to require employee vaccinations.
This week, more than 500 new cases were reported over Thursday and Friday in Pierce County.
This story was originally published August 6, 2021 at 4:20 PM.
