Employees of New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health had a deadline of Aug. 16 to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing. The count as of Aug. 23: About 80 percent of Northwell's more than 76,000 employees are fully vaccinated.
"Vaccinations are critical to protect our patients, our staff and protect the general community," Mark Jarrett, MD, senior vice president and chief quality officer at Northwell, told The New York Times. "It's a tough issue, but it's our professional obligation to always maintain that whatever we do, it's for the safety of our patients."
Northwell, which has 23 hospitals and 830 outpatient facilities, announced its vaccine requirement Aug. 2. Employees of the health system were required to be fully vaccinated by Aug. 16 or get tested weekly. Unvaccinated employees who do not undergo weekly testing could face disciplinary action or termination.
Joe Kemp, a spokesperson for Northwell, told Becker's disciplinary action or termination will be dependent on employees being repeatedly noncompliant with undergoing weekly testing. With the mandate in effect for one week, he said he did not have information about workers who may be considered noncompliant. Workers with exemptions for medical or religious reasons must still be tested each week.
The same week that Northwell's vaccine or testing mandate took effect, some workers at the health system's Staten Island University Hospital in New York City protested the vaccinations, citing what they deem as their inherent rights, according to the Times. The protest also happened the same week New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state is requiring healthcare workers to get their first COVID-19 vaccination by Sept. 27.
Northwell told the Times the health system aims to get 100 percent of employees vaccinated.
Read the full Times article here.