On Thursday, Dignity Health announced it will require all employees, physicians, Advanced Practice Providers, volunteers, and others caring for patients within the company’s facilities to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Nov. 1.
“An abundance of evidence shows that the vaccines are safe and highly effective. Throughout the pandemic we have made data-driven decisions that will help us best fulfill our healing mission, and requiring vaccination is critical to maintaining a safe care environment,” said Dignity Health CEO Lloyd Dean in a press release.
A physician, who asked to remain anonymous, associated with Dignity told the Arizona Daily Independent that he believed the company was denying healthcare professionals the “dignity to choose whether we will submit to the vaccines which do not have FDA approval yet. This is never going to stop if we don’t fight it now. Booster shots are already on the horizon. A fight against these mandates is the hill we should be willing to die on.”
Dignity joins Valleywise, HonorHealth and Banner Health in mandating vaccinations.