Sutter Health mandates COVID vaccination for employees, joining Kaiser and others
Sutter Health will require all of its employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of September, the Northern California health provider announced Wednesday, becoming the latest private entity to institute a mandate as virus cases surge.
“Sutter’s policy states all workforce members — including employees, physicians, volunteers and vendors — coming onsite to a Sutter facility or providing patient care elsewhere need to be fully vaccinated with documentation on file or have received an approved accommodation for a valid medical contraindication or religious exemption,” the company said in a news release.
The Sacramento-headquartered provider operates 24 acute care hospitals and more than 200 clinics across Northern California and the Bay Area. Sutter Health employs more than 55,000 people, including over 12,000 physicians and more than 16,000 nurses, according to its website.
Sutter Health joins Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente, which announced its vaccine mandate Monday.
“The only way to get ahead of this virus once and for all is for everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated as soon as possible,” Dr. William Isenberg, Sutter Health’s chief quality and safety officer, said in a prepared statement. “The unfortunate reality is that the delta variant is driving a surge in hospitalizations throughout our network and around the country, mostly among unvaccinated people.”
CEO Sarah Krevans in a statement said a “majority” of employees and “allied physicians” are fully vaccinated, but Sutter Health did not immediately provide a specific percentage. Kaiser earlier this week said nearly a quarter of its 240,000 employees remain unvaccinated, including 5% of its doctors.
Gov. Gavin Newsom last week ordered all healthcare workers to either get vaccinated or wear masks and submit to regular COVID testing. Kaiser and Sutter’s policies don’t allow for the latter option in lieu of vaccination.
