Advocate Aurora Health, the largest health system in the state, has announced it is requiring its employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
The Milwaukee- and Downers Grove, Illinois-based health system is the latest health care organization in the area to issue a vaccine mandate for all employees. The announcement follows those from Glendale-based Ascension Wisconsin, Waukesha-based ProHealth Care, and Froedtert Health, the Medical College of Wisconsin and Children’s Wisconsin.
Advocate Aurora, which employs 75,000 people across its Wisconsin and Illinois facilities, will require all staff members to be vaccinated by Oct. 15. The mandate applies to remote workers and those who don’t work directly with patients, as well as medical staff, students, volunteers and on-site vendors.
“We are first and foremost a safe, clinical enterprise. Our ultimate duty is to protect the health and safety of our team members, patients and communities,” Jim Skogsbergh, president and chief executive officer, told employees in a video Wednesday. “The data is overwhelming. This vaccine is safe, and it’s highly effective in preventing infection and even more so, serious illness and death.”
Advocate Aurora said its inpatient COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased five-fold over the past three weeks and the system’s test positivity rate is the highest it’s been since January. As of Wednesday, the system reported having 91 inpatient cases among its Wisconsin facilities (up from 10 on July 14) and 82 among its Illinois facilities (up from 24 on July 14).
“While COVID is far from gone, our story is still being written. Let this decision to mandate vaccines be another chapter in our book – one that says we have done everything we can to keep our patients, our communities and each other safe and healthy,” Skogsbergh said.
Advocate Aurora, like other health care organizations, has an exemption process in place for medical and religious reasons.
