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Thousands of Colorado healthcare workers exempt from COVID-19 vaccine mandate

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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) has released new data to 13 Investigates showing an estimate on how many healthcare workers in Colorado are vaccinated against COVID-19.

A state emergency rule mandates all Colorado healthcare workers be fully vaccinated by October 31. The state board of health did not make any changes to its emergency rule on Thursday. Colorado health leaders said they are awaiting federal guidance on vaccine requirements for the federally regulated facilities and to finalize the state healthcare worker vaccine mandate.

Of the available data on nursing facilities:

  • Statewide, 202 nursing facilities report 89.3% of employees are full vaccinated against COVID
  • Statewide, 253 nursing facility employees were granted medical exemption from the vaccine
  • Statewide, 1,047 were granted a religious exemption from the vaccine

Of the available data on Colorado hospitals:

  • 92% of 168,055 Colorado hospital employees are fully vaccinated
  • 5,609 hospital employees were granted a religious exemption vaccine
  • 1,388 were granted a medical exemption from the vaccine

However, data provided by the CDPHE shows there are currently 24 nursing facilities and 9 hospitals in Colorado that haven't reported vaccination rates as of Thursday.

A public notice showed that dozens of nursing facilities in Southern Colorado did not report vaccine data as of October 13. However, it's unclear how many of those facilities comply with the vaccine reporting requirement now.

CDPHE said it is issuing citations to those who failed to report the data as required.

"All licensed healthcare facilities are required to have their staff that comes in contact with those receiving healthcare in Colorado vaccinated. Facilities are also required to report their staff vaccination data to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). This reporting allows those seeking healthcare to make informed choices about the healthcare facilities they visit," a spokesperson said.

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Chelsea Brentzel

Chelsea is the Assistant News Director for KRDO NewsChannel 13. Learn more about Chelsea here.

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