Kaiser: 2,200 Employees Suspended For Skipping Vaccine; More Than 92% Workers Vaccinated
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- More than 2,000 Kaiser Permanente workers who elected to not receive the COVID vaccine have been suspended without pay, according to the health care provider.
Kaiser Permanente said more than 92% of its employees have been vaccinated, up from 78% when the company's vaccination requirement was initially announced on August 2. According to Kaiser, each suspended worker has until December 1 to get vaccinated.
"As of October 4, just over 2,200 have not responded to our vaccine requirement, and have been put on unpaid administrative leave across the country," Kaiser said in a statement. "We hope none of our employees will choose to leave their jobs rather than be vaccinated, but we won't know with certainty until then. We will continue to work with this group of employees to allay concerns and educate them about the vaccines, their benefits, and risks."
Kaiser Permanente, the nation's largest nonprofit health care organization, said its mandate applies across all of Kaiser's locations in Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Oregon, Virginia, Washington and Washington, D.C. In July, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a requirement for all health care workers to get vaccinated or be subject to frequent COVID-19 testing.
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