MercyOne now requiring COVID-19 vaccine for all staff

All MercyOne staff must receive the COVID-19 vaccine, health system officials announced this week.

Medical staff and other employees at any MercyOne facility must be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Nov. 1, joining dozens of other health systems nationwide mandating employees be inoculated as new coronavirus cases surge.

“As a faith-based health ministry, we have pledged to protect the most vulnerable. Our patients and their families expect us to provide a safe environment for their care, and that includes being vaccinated,” MercyOne CEO Bob Ritz said in a statement Tuesday.

The West Des Moines-based Catholic health system employs more than 20,000 individuals across 420 clinics, medical centers, hospitals and other care locations. Officials declined to share what percentage of its employees currently are vaccinated against COVID-19.

The new requirement does not apply to MercyOne’s managed affiliates, such as Mercy Iowa City or the Mercy Iowa City Rehabilitation Hospital.

Certain hospitals and associated medical clinics within the MercyOne health system already were required to get the shots after its parent company, Trinity Health, issued the mandate in early July.

But as of this week, employees in the Central Iowa and Northeast Iowa regions as well as the MercyOne Elkader Medical Center now are included in that requirement. These MercyOne regions are not owned by Trinity Health.

Trinity Health, headquartered in Chelsea, Mich., operates 90 hospitals across 22 states, including Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska and South Dakota.

Exemptions are available for those with medical reasons or with strongly held religious beliefs. Employees who don’t meet the criteria for exemption and fail to show proof of vaccination could face termination.

MercyOne officials state they are joining more than 100 hospitals and health systems nationwide requiring COVID-19 vaccination for employees.

Vaccination rates have lagged across the United States and in Iowa. As the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus spreads rapidly across the country — prompting a surge in new cases and hospitalizations — experts have called on health care workers to get the shots.

Iowa added an average of 510 COVID-19 a cases a day over the course of a week earlier this month, which is the highest average in more than three months, according to state coronavirus data.

Medical groups representing nearly 60 organizations that include the American Medical Association and the American Nursing Association issued a joint statement this past month that all medical workers have an ethical commitment to put patients first “and take all steps necessary to ensure their health and well-being.”

COVID-19 vaccines have been available to health care staff in Iowa since December.

“The safety of our patients, residents, colleagues, physicians and communities is a top priority for us,” MercyOne Chief Medical Executive Dr. Hijinio Carreon said in a statement. “With more than 350 million doses administered in the United States, we know the COVID-19 vaccines are safe and the single most effective tool in slowing, and even stopping, the spread of virus and saving lives.”

MercyOne’s announcement comes a week after UnityPoint Health, one of the largest health care providers in the state, implemented a similar requirement for its 33,000 employees. They must be vaccinated by Nov. 1, regardless of whether they provide direct patient care, UnityPoint Health officials said.

In addition, staff at the VA Health Care System in Iowa City must be vaccinated — part of a directive from the Biden administration that staff at all Veterans Affairs health facilities nationwide be vaccinated.

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