Cleveland, OH,
26
August
2021
|
10:00 AM
America/New_York

MetroHealth Requires Employees and Staff to be Vaccinated Against COVID by October 30

Employee Vaccine Requirement from MetroHealth on Vimeo.

The MetroHealth System joins the American Medical Association, American Nurses Association, American Hospital Association, Ohio Hospital Association and other organizations that have recently urged hospitals to require vaccinations.

MetroHealth is requiring employees, including contractors and volunteers, to receive COVID-19 vaccinations for the safety of our patients by October 30, 2021.

With hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine administered since late last year, hospital leaders are fully confident the vaccines are safe, effective and our best protection against this dangerous virus.

“Protecting caregivers against COVID-19 is the right thing to do,” said MetroHealth President and CEO Akram Boutros, MD. “Our profession has been hailed as heroic because we were there when there was no protection from this disease. We cared for people and put ourselves at risk. We don’t have to do that anymore. We can and have to take care of our patients and ourselves.”

MetroHealth has worked for months to educate the community and our caregivers about vaccine safety and made vaccines readily available. More than 80 percent of MetroHealth’s staff is already vaccinated.

Vaccine requirements for health care employees are nothing new. MetroHealth already requires annual flu vaccinations, as well as measles, mumps and rubella vaccinations as a condition of employment.

Like the flu vaccine, there will be exceptions for those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or religious reasons.

“We stand united to keep our patients, staff, and community safe by giving the best protection possible against COVID-19,” said Amy Ray, MD, Medical Director of Infection Prevention. “Every employee in our organization deserves the greatest protection available so that every patient who crosses our doors can be assured of safety.”

All new and current employees must be fully vaccinated or receive a medical or religious exemption by October 30. Like with the flu vaccine, those who refuse the vaccine, will be subject to disciplinary actions, including termination.

We are committed to caring for the health and wellbeing of our community and caregivers as we work to bring the COVID-19 pandemic to an end.

About The MetroHealth System

Founded in 1837, MetroHealth is leading the way to a healthier you and a healthier community through service, teaching, discovery, and teamwork. Cuyahoga County’s public, safety-net hospital system, MetroHealth meets people where they are, providing care through five hospitals, four emergency departments and more than 20 health centers. Each day, our nearly 9,000 employees focus on providing our community with equitable healthcare — through patient-focused research, access to care, and support services — that seeks to eradicate health disparities rooted in systematic barriers. For more information, visit metrohealth.org.