Centra Health said today that 31 caregivers voluntarily resigned and five were fired for not meeting the hospital’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Centra Health officials say that represented about 0.52% of Central’s workforce and will not affect staffing levels. Centra had announced the November 1st deadline back in mid-August. Officials said on November 2nd, 134 employees who were unvaccinated or partially vaccinated were suspended for two weeks and had one-on-one conversations with Centra leadership. 98 of them then received the vaccine. Centra says its caregiver population is now 100% compliant, and the COVID-19 vaccine is a now condition of employment at Centra.
Here is the entire update from Centra:
Centra Announces COVID-19 Vaccine Policy Update
Centra announced their COVID-19 vaccine policy requirement on August 16, 2021. Three
weeks later the Biden Administration announced plans for a federal mandate. While details
regarding this mandate are still forthcoming, Centra’s deadline for the vaccine requirement
ended on November 1st at midnight, ahead of the January 4th federal deadline.
• On November 2nd, roughly 1.9% of Centra’s Caregivers did not meet the compliance
standards by the deadline.
o 79 Caregivers were non-compliant, with 55 Caregivers partially vaccinated. (Fully
vaccinated, as defined by the CDC is completion of the two-shot series, or one
dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.)
All combined, 134 individuals’ statuses were pending as of the November
1st deadline. Centra leadership had one-on-one conversations with these
Caregivers to validate compliance and next steps.
• 34 Caregivers remained pending in compliance after the suspension period on
November 16th, which resulted in unfortunately, five Caregivers being terminated.
• As a result of this policy, 31 Caregivers have voluntarily resigned, for a total of 36
departures. (0.52%) These departures do not impact staffing within the Centra system.
• As of today, our current Caregiver population is 100% compliant.
• As of October 1st, the COVID-19 vaccine is a condition of employment at Centra. All new
hires will be required to be compliant with this policy.
Moving forward Centra will now refer to overall compliance, and not by exemptions or
deferments; because of this, Centra will not be releasing specific information regarding
exemptions or deferments.
At this time Centra does not intend to require weekly testing for Caregivers who have received
an approved exemption but understand federal guidelines may change this policy in the future.
As the federal guidelines continue to evolve, Centra will align our policy with the federal
government requirements. Centra remains committed to fulfilling all regulatory and compliance
obligations.
“Our patients and Caregivers expect to be safe when they enter one of our facilities, and we
need to do everything we can to protect them, “says Michael Elliott, Senior Vice President and
Chief Transformation Officer with Centra. “We know the vaccine is the single most important
step we can take to protect ourselves and each other from COVID-19.