Hospital decree: Shot or pink slip
St. Peter’s parent firm requires all staff to get COVID vaccine
The parent company of St. Peter’s Health Partners, one of the Capital Region’s largest employers and one of two dominant health care providers in the region, has mandated that all of its employees get a COVID-19 vaccination.
The news came down Thursday from Michigan-based Trinity Health, the national not-for-profit Catholic health care system that operates St. Peter’s.
“That is the mandate that we are currently operating under,” St. Peter’s spokesman Robert Webster said. In April, the hospital reported to the Department of Health that over 90 percent of its employees in acute care facilities were vaccinated, said Webster. The Trinity memo said most employees would have to be vaccinated by Sept. 21.
“At this point the colleagues within our
system who are refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccination and don’t receive an approved exception, whether it’s for strongly held religious beliefs or medical condition, those colleagues will no longer be employed by our organization,” said Webster.
In addition to the Albany hospital, St. Peter’s Partners also runs an array of medical practices, senior service providers such as The Eddy, as well as nursing homes and rehabilitation centers. It employs about 11,000 people.
“Safety is one of our core values. We know these vaccines are safe and reduce the chance that members of our community could become seriously ill or end up in one of our hospitals,” said Dr. James Reed, president and CEO of St. Peter’s Health Partners, in a statement. “We have an obligation to those we serve to provide the very best care. This decision represents the next step in our continuing efforts to do all we can to provide healing, compassionate care, while recognizing our vital role in ending this pandemic.”
Another major provider, the Albany Medical Center system, does not currently have such a requirement, but it is actively developing a plan to require vaccinations in the future to further protect the staff and others from the virus, wrote Sue Ford, Albany Med’s director of communications, in an email.
At Ellis Medicine in Schenectady vaccines are also not required, said hospital spokesman Philip Schwartz. “There are discussions right now (about a vaccine requirement). We haven’t made a decision yet. We are still exploring the options,” said Schwartz.
Nearly 90 percent of Ellis Medicine’s approximately 3,000 employees are vaccinated, said Schwartz.
Both AMC and St. Peter’s have over the years acquired a number of formerly independent practices and facilities — a trend occurring in health care nationally.
St. Peter’s employees were scheduled to learn details of the new policy during a town hall-type meeting later Thursday.
“We have strongly encouraged vaccination for all colleagues, and our communities since the first vaccine for COVID-19 was approved for Emergency Use Authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. But as a health care system, we have a responsibility to do more,” read a memo sent to St. Peter’s Hospital employees from Trinity Health on Thursday.
In the memo, Trinity Health said about 75 percent of their employees nationwide have been vaccinated with at least one dose.
The current total number of St. Peter’s employees that have been vaccinated has not been recorded yet, said Webster. Now that a COVID-19 vaccine is mandatory, the human resources department will start tracking it.
“This decision is not going to resonate with all colleagues,” said Webster. “But we have been considering this for several months and we have really come to the decision this is the right move we need to make as a health care organization in the Capital Region.”
News of the mandatory vaccination policy comes as COVID-19 has waned, although health experts remain concerned about mutations such as the delta variant and the lambda variant from Peru, which could pose renewed threats, especially to those who aren’t vaccinated.
Statewide, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Tuesday that 70 percent of New Yorkers 12 years of age and older had gotten at least one dose of the vaccine.