MaineHealth to require COVID-19 vaccinations for staff

(The Center Square) – MaineHealth, the state’s largest health system, says it will require COVID-19 vaccination for all of its workers as a condition of employment.

The health care provider, which is the largest private employer in the state, said the new policy is aimed at limiting spread of COVID-19 with a highly contagious strain of the virus creating outbreaks among the unvaccinated.

Only “bona fide” medical and religious exemptions to the vaccine mandate will be allowed once the new rules go into effect on Oct. 1, the health system said.

“To be consistent with our values and to protect our colleagues, families, patients and communities, we believe it is paramount that all care team members be vaccinated,” Dr. Dora-Anne Mills, MaineHealth’s chief improvement officer, said in a statement.

Mills said the vaccines “are very effective, and are preventing hospitalizations and health complications” from the COVID-19 disease.

“In addition, the vaccines are proven safe – we have a full year of data from the clinical trials and almost 200 million Americans have received a COVID-19 vaccination,” she said.

As of July, about 84% of MaineHealth’s workers were fully vaccinated, the health provider said.

MaineHealth joins an increasing number of hospitals and health systems in requiring vaccinations for workers amid heightened concerns over the spread of the delta variant.

Last week, the American Medical Association was among 50 national and state-level health care organizations to call for mandatory vaccinations in their industry.

“Due to the recent COVID-19 surge and the availability of safe and effective vaccines, our health care organizations and societies advocate that all health care and long-term care employers require their workers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine,” the groups wrote in a statement.

The organizations, which collectively represent millions of physicians, nurses and other health care workers, called on other industries to follow suit.

“The health and safety of U.S. workers, families, communities, and the nation depends on it,” they wrote.

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