Nearly all workers at Good Shepherd heed vaccine rule

Company says 99% have complied with mandate

Nearly all of Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network’s employees complied with the health network’s vaccine mandate, officials said.

Out of the network’s 1,234 employees, 1,129 are fully vaccinated, 20 have received their first dose and 71 received medical or religious exemptions or a temporary deferment for previously testing positive for COVID-19, Carry Gerber, Good Shepherd spokesperson said. One employee is planning to schedule a vaccine appointment and seven are on a leave of absence.

Six employees chose to resign rather than get their shots.

In total 93% of Good Shepherd employees are fully or partially vaccinated, which is a slight improvement from 91% on Sept. 28.

“With a 99% compliance rate, Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network employees have demonstrated that they care deeply about the health and safety of our patients, residents, neighbors and each other,” Gerber said.

In August, Good Shepherd announced it would adopt a vaccine mandate for all full-time, part-time and per-diem employees at all 30 of its locations. The deadline for employees to comply was Oct. 15.

St. Luke’s University Health Network and Lehigh Valley Health Network announced they would adopt mandates at the same time as Good Shepherd but those networks set different deadlines.

St. Luke’s deadline for its mandate was in September. Following that deadline, St. Luke’s officials announced that 17,000 employees had complied with the mandate and 155 employees resigned rather than get the vaccine.

Though LVHN announced its mandate Aug. 9, it didn’t take effect until Aug. 24, the day after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Pfizer’s vaccine. The deadline for its mandate is Nov. 12.

On Sept. 9, President Joe Biden issued executive orders that, among other things, will require private businesses with more than 100 employees to have their employees either get their COVID-19 shots or get tested for COVID-19 on a weekly basis. Under the executive orders, federal employees, federal contractors and health care workers at facilities that receive Medicaid and Medicare funds must get vaccinated and will not have an option for weekly testing.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is in charge of creating the rules for health care

workers and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is in charge of creating the rules that will govern businesses with more than 100 employees.

According to the United States Department of Labor, OSHA submitted a draft of the emergency temporary standards for businesses with more than 100 employees to the Office of Management and Budget on Oct. 12. Once the Office of Management concludes its review of the regulation, the emergency temporary standard will be published in the Federal Register.