KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Thousands of employees working at Truman Medical Center/University Health are now required to be vaccinated.
The hospital announced in July it would mandate all employees be fully vaccinated by Sept. 20, unless they had an approved medical waiver. The hospital was the first in the metro to announce a vaccination mandate for employees. Many other hospitals have since followed and announced their own requirements.
A spokesperson for Truman Medical Centers said 39 of its employees would resign this week after making the decision to skip the vaccine. That’s less than 1% of the hospital’s 4,500 employees.
“They made a personal decision, and we respect that, but we also made a decision as an organization that patient safety comes first and that’s our role to play in the community,” Charlie Shields, Truman Medical Centers/ University Health President and CEO said.
Other hospitals have deadlines coming up soon.
In October, workers at Kansas City’s Veterans affairs and employees at St. Luke’s Health System will need to be fully vaccinated.
Mid-November is the deadline for North Kansas City Hospital.
The University of Kansas Health System employees have until December 1 and workers at Children’s Mercy Hospital need to be vaccinated by December 15.
In a statement about the decision that was released in July, President and CEO Charlie Shields said it wanted to make sure it could care for the patients it needed to.
“TMC/UH wants to ensure we are doing everything possible to keep our patients, our workforce, and our community safe. In doing so, we recognize the importance of leading by example,” Shields said.