Employees at the Arlington-based company, including all vendors, students, suppliers and contract workers, must be fully vaccinated by September 10th.
ARLINGTON, Texas – Texas Health Resources, as the newest healthcare system in North Texas, announced a mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy for all employees on Friday.
Employees at the Arlington-based company, including all vendors, students, suppliers and contract workers, must be fully vaccinated by September 10th.
Texas Health Resources CEO Barclay Berdan said Friday that about 70% of the company’s employees are already fully vaccinated.
“We are taking this proactive step as our community faces increasing cases, in large part due to low vaccination rates and the increasing delta variant,” Berdan said in a press release. “I encourage all North Texans to get vaccinated and take proactive measures to stay healthy, including wearing a mask.”
Baylor Scott & White Health and Methodist Health System both announced this week that all employees, vendors, suppliers and contract workers must be fully vaccinated by October 1st.
Texas Health Resources has more than 23,000 employees and operates 27 hospital facilities across North Texas.
“As COVID-19 continues to spread in our communities, vaccination duty is the responsible step forward,” said Berdan. “The vaccine is safe, it works, and it’s a step we can take to protect our community. Safety is always our number 1 priority. “
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The decision to request a vaccine is made as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rise rapidly across northern Texas, an increase experts attribute to the Delta variant.
The Delta variant has been shown to be more contagious than previous variants of COVID-19 and in some cases brings more severe symptoms.
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The Houston Methodist Hospital became the first Texas health system in April to require all staff to be vaccinated. The claim was met with a class action lawsuit, but the lawsuit was dismissed.
Rogge Dunn, an employment and business attorney in Dallas, said Texas companies have the right to request vaccinations.
He also said the OSHA has an ordinance that requires employers to create safe jobs.
“If the employer doesn’t ask for mandatory vaccinations, better social distancing, require masks, plastic partitions, and the like, because if not and an employee picks up the phone and calls OSHA, OSHA may be out there to investigate and punish that employer “said Dunn.
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