Hospitals' vaccine mandate deadlines quickly approach

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — Could longer wait times be in hospitals' future? Vaccine mandate deadlines are quickly approaching, with the health care system already dealing with staffing shortages.

Many hospitals around West Virginia have issued a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, including two of the largest health care networks: the West Virginia University Health System and Charleston Area Medical Center.

According to the West Virginia Hospital Association, hospitals have had mandatory vaccine policies for other illnesses for a long time. WVHA President Jim Kaufman reports that about half of the Mountain State hospitals have adopted a mandatory COVID-19 vaccine mandate for staff and vendors. He believes the remaining hospitals are waiting to see what the federal government decides.

"Right after some hospitals started to announce their policies, the Biden administration, the centers for Medicare and Medicaid specifically, announced they are going to be coming out with a policy for hospital employees as well," Kaufman said.

Many people fear staffing shortages inside hospitals could get worse when mandates go into effect.

"Will we lose some staff? Yes, but overall this is what's best for the patients and our entire workforce," Kaufman said.

CAMC staffers have until Friday, Oct. 15, to become fully vaccinated. As of Tuesday, CAMC said about 95% of the CAMC workforce complies. If employees are not fully vaccinated or have an exemption, they will be considered to have voluntarily resigned from employment.

WVU Medicine's mandate kids in on Oct. 31. As of Monday, WVU Medicine reports about 92% of its 26,000 system employees were fully vaccinated.

"Overall, most of the hospitals are telling me they are in the 90% range for fully vaccinated employees with a lot of requests for appointments to request vaccines," Kaufman said.