Around 300 Hartford HealthCare employees remain unvaccinated and are facing suspension if they continue to defy their employer’s COVID-19 immunization requirements, the health system disclosed Monday.
Hartford HealthCare had given its employees until last Friday to either turn in CDC vaccination cards or file formal requests for exemptions from the shot. A sizable number of employees complied with that order right before the deadline, company officials said, raising the system’s worker vaccination rate to 99%, though holdouts remain.
“We are hopeful that people will choose to stay in health care and with Hartford HealthCare,” said Chief Clinical Officer Ajay Kumar.
Hartford HealthCare announced its vaccine mandate in July, with the goal of having all workers immunized by the end of September unless they had a “ compelling or important reason” to decline the treatment. The policy prompted sporadic public protests from staff members over the summer, but by last week 98% of employees were in compliance.
Kumar pointed out that all of the COVID-19 vaccines now available have been proven safe and effective at reducing serious illness or death, and said Hartford HealthCare had adopted the mandate to protect patients and limit the virus’s spread.
