Vacc Deadline For Health Care Workers In California

The deadline has arrived for California health care workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Anyone who refuses could get fired.

The California Department of Public Health will not be granting an extension to medical centers facing critical staffing shortages, despite efforts from the California Hospital Association to give some facilities more time to comply. 

Scripps Health in San Diego County will lose 140 employees and 8 doctors, because they are refusing to get the vaccine.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports the provider granted religious exemptions to 430 employees and another 125 employees were given a medical exemption from getting the Covid-19 vaccine.

More than 500 Scripps employees are still not vaccinated and could lose their jobs in October 2021.

Sharp Health Care, the region’s largest health care provider, gave nearly 700 employees exemptions from the COVID vaccine but more than 500 remain unvaccinated.  Sharp says it will place non-compliant employees on unpaid administrative leave for 30 days before firing them.  But Rady Children’s Hospital is refusing to grant exemptions and still has about 200 unvaccinated workers.  UC San Diego Health Care and Kaiser Permanente would not disclose the number of unvaccinated workers, but both claim over 90 percent of their workers are vaccinated against the virus. 

Team of doctors and nurses with face masks on, standing in hospital corridor.

Photo from Alpha Media USA Portland OR