Hospitals start requiring employees to get COVID shots

Public health law experts say the moves are a legal means of ensuring a safe, COVID-19 free environment for patients and workers.

By

National News

June 21, 2021 - 4:38 PM

At Rady Children's Hospital on Tuesday, December 22, 2020, health care workers receive their first of two doses of the COVID-19 Moderna vaccine. Arlene Huezo, LVN inoculates Hazel Reyes, Medical Assistant with the COVID-19 Moderna vaccine. (Nelvin C. Cepeda/San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS)

After a Texas federal court sided with a Houston hospital that required workers to get a COVID-19 vaccine or find another job, public health experts predict that most hospitals and medical practices will soon issue similar mandates.

When vaccines first became available in December under an emergency use authorization, hospitals reported that they planned to wait until the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted full approval of the vaccines before deciding whether to make the shots mandatory.

But in recent weeks, dozens of hospitals and medical groups in Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere began issuing vaccination requirements. Public health law experts say the moves are a legal means of ensuring a safe, COVID-19-free environment for patients and workers.

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