Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
At Least 4 More Hospital Systems Join Health Care Vaccine Mandate List
Houston Chronicle: Memorial Hermann: All 29,000 Employees Must Be Vaccinated By Oct. 9 Or 'Voluntarily Resign'
Memorial Hermann on Monday said it will require all employees to be vaccinated by Oct. 9, becoming the third Houston healthcare institution to do so. The hospital system follows Baylor College of Medicine, which announced its employee vaccine requirement last week, nearly two months after Houston Methodist reached its vaccination deadline. Managers and other leaders across the organizations must be compliant by Sept. 11. The deadline is Oct. 9 for all other employees, including the system’s affiliated providers and volunteers. (Gill, 8/2)
San Francisco Chronicle: Kaiser Permanente To Require All Employees, Physicians, To Be Vaccinated As Delta Cases Rise
Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente healthcare system will mandate COVID-19 vaccines for all employees and physicians, the nonprofit said Monday. The move came as the highly-contagious delta variant of the coronavirus continues to spike infections locally and across the state and country. Under existing state guidance all health workers and state employees must show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or get tested weekly, but Kaiser appears to be going beyond those requirements and extending the mandate to all of its employees. (DiFeliciantonio, 8/2)
Louisville Courier Journal: Norton Healthcare, Baptist Health Announce Staff COVID Vaccine Mandate
Norton Healthcare and Baptist Health are the latest Kentuckiana hospital systems to require their staffs to get a COVID-19 vaccine as cases continue to climb in the region. Norton employees must get their first shot by Sept. 15, Norton President and CEO Russell Cox said in a company news update posted Monday. And in a Monday email to staff obtained by The Courier Journal, Baptist CEO Gerard Colman also announced a vaccine mandate. (Ramsey, 8/2)
In more news about vaccine mandates —
Bloomberg: New Jersey Orders State Hospital, Jail Staffs To Vaccinate Or Test
People who work in New Jersey state-run hospitals, nursing homes and jails must be fully vaccinated by Sept. 7 or undergo routine Covid-19 testing, Governor Phil Murphy said. The order applies to veterans homes, psychiatric hospitals, home health agencies, the acute-care University Hospital in Newark and other high-risk congregate-care facilities. Additional employees may be subjected to the requirement if virus data continue to worsen, Murphy said Monday at a press briefing. (Young, 8/2)
Indianapolis Star: Indiana University COVID-19 Requirements Upheld By Appeals Court
Students who don't like Indiana University's COVID-19 vaccine requirement can go elsewhere for their education. That was the message delivered by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in a ruling issued Monday that will allow the public university's requirement that all students and employees receive a COVID-19 vaccine before the start of the fall semester to stand. The court said that colleges and universities may decide what is necessary to keep students safe in the decision denying a request for an injunction made by a group of eight students seeking to block the mandate, alleging that it violates their constitutional rights. (Herron, 8/2)
Axios: Cuomo Urges Private Businesses To Move To "Vaccine-Only Admission"
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Monday called for private businesses to incentivize getting vaccinated against the coronavirus by instituting "vaccine-only admission." The Delta variant is driving up COVID-19 cases around the country, but deaths and hospitalizations are overwhelmingly occurring in unvaccinated people. (Reyes, 8/2)
Fox News: New York Teachers Union Opposed To Cuomo Suggestion Of COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates
The teachers union that represents more than 60,000 current and retired educators across New York reiterated its opposition Monday to COVID-19 vaccine mandates after Gov. Andrew Cuomo encouraged school districts to require the doses. The New York State United Teachers released a statement following Cuomo's COVID-19 briefing in which he said teachers in the state should be required to get the vaccine or submit to weekly testing if they are in an area defined as high-risk by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (Casiano, 8/3)
The Boston Globe: As Janey Considers Vaccine And Testing Mandate, Boston Does Not Track Vaccination Status For All City Employees
How many of the City of Boston’s 18,000 workers are vaccinated against COVID-19? Authorities said Monday that they do not know. Citing a recent uptick in cases and hospitalizations, Acting Mayor Kim Janey last week said the city is “leaning toward” a vaccine and testing mandate for city workers. Her office has acknowledged that such a move would need to be collectively bargained with the city’s various municipal unions. But questions remain, including how many would need to take tests regularly to prove they were COVID-19 free. (McDonald, 8/2)
Bangor Daily News: Poll: Nearly Two-Thirds Of Mainers Support Mandating COVID-19 Vaccine
Nearly two-thirds of Mainers would support a universal COVID-19 vaccine requirement, according to a new survey that comes as a more contagious strain continues to drive up cases here among the state’s unvaccinated population. The survey, conducted in June and July by researchers at four universities, found that nearly 66 percent of Maine respondents would “somewhat” or “strongly” back a government mandate for the COVID-19 vaccine. The margin of error was 5.6 percent. Support in Maine was just over national levels, with 64 percent of adults across the U.S. favoring a mandate, the survey found. (Piper, 8/3)
Also —
NPR: Vaccine Mandate Laws Are Banned In Several States
Hemi Tewarson of the National Academy for State Health Policy is tracking state legislatures for such bills, and spoke to Morning Edition's A Martínez about what she's seeing. Notably: As of late last week, 9 states have enacted 11 laws with prohibitions on vaccine mandates (Arizona and Arkansas have each enacted two). They weren't all introduced or enacted at this stage of the pandemic — in fact, some were introduced back in February and March, and the most recent took effect in late June. Some of these laws are tied only to vaccinations that have emergency use authorization, so the prohibition will no longer apply if the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines get full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (Treisman, 8/2)
