BJC HealthCare will require employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 beginning in the fall, the St. Louis-based health system said June 15.
Employees and those who work in BJC facilities must comply with the mandate by Sept. 15 or receive a medical or religious exception.
"As a healthcare provider, major employer and a community leader, BJC wants to ensure we are doing everything we can to keep our patients, our valued workforce and our communities safe," Rich Liekweg, BJC president and CEO, said in a news release. "The available vaccines are among the most effective and safest ever developed. We are pleased that across our organization, we have reached a nearly 75 percent employee vaccination rate. We are now focused on ensuring the 25 percent of our employees who have not yet been vaccinated have access to factual information and can easily obtain the vaccine in advance of the fall respiratory illness season."
BJC, a 15-hospital health system, joins other healthcare organizations that have announced vaccination mandates. Other organizations in the St. Louis region — SSM Health, Mercy and St. Luke's Hospital — had not announced mandates as of June 15, but said they were considering the issue, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Read more about other mandates here.