COVID-19 vaccine will be optional for Colorado Springs hospital staff
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — Neither UCHealth nor Centura Health employees will be required to get the COVID-19 vaccine when it is offered, according to spokespeople for both health systems.
Despite being the first vaccine-eligible people in Colorado, frontline COVID-19 healthcare workers at Colorado Springs’ main hospitals will have the final say in whether they get immunized.
UCHealth operates three hospitals in Colorado Springs: UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central, UCHealth Memorial Hospital Grandview, and UCHealth Memorial Hospital North.
Centura Health manages St. Francis Medical Center and Penrose Hospital in the Springs. Both groups have hospitals in Pueblo as well. Like most healthcare facilities in the country, they are privately owned and operated.
Gov. Jared Polis announced the state's COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan Wednesday.
“Many hospitals and healthcare providers have their own rules and employment policies that dictate who needs to be vaccinated for what,” Polis said. “And of course, many of them would be updating those.”
According to UCHealth spokesperson Cary Vogrin, the COVID-19 vaccine will be optional for UCHealth employees.
“While we do not know exactly how many doses we will initially receive or when they will arrive, we are expecting the initial shipments to be very limited,” Vogrin said.
Vogrin is unsure what percentage of UCHealth workers will opt-out of taking a COVID-19 vaccine.
A spokesperson for Centura Health said Centura recommends its employees get vaccinated for COVID-19 once it is FDA approved. However, it is not required for Centura employees either.
“A recent survey of Centura’s associates and providers across Colorado and Kansas shows more than two-thirds, including 90% of physicians, will choose to receive the vaccine as it becomes available,” Centura Health said.
According to the state’s website, it would likely be legal for public and private sector employers to implement vaccine mandates for employees if the vaccine is FDA-approved.
“Public and private sector vaccine mandates have generally been accepted in the U.S. for decades, especially in public health emergencies,” the website reads.
KRDO asked UCHealth and Centura if employees are required to get vaccinated for other illnesses. We are also working to learn more about the COVID-19 employee vaccine policy for Colorado Mental Health Institute, the state-run hospital in Pueblo.
