New Vaccine Mandate At Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals

CLEVELAND — Two of Ohio's largest hospital systems announced they would implement vaccine mandates for employees on Friday.

Both the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals said they would require all health care providers and U.S. employees to prove they have received a COVID-19 vaccine. Both hospital systems said they were complying with a mandate issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

A Cleveland Clinic spokesperson sent the following statement about the mandate to Patch:

Recently, vaccine requirements were announced for healthcare systems regulated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). In accordance with these federal mandates, we are requiring all of our U.S. employees and those who provide services with us to receive the COVID-19 vaccine by January 4th. Under the CMS rule, employees who are not fully vaccinated by January 4, 2022 and who do not have a religious or medical exemption that can be accommodated will no longer be able to work for us. In anticipation of this rule, we had enacted a COVID-19 Vaccine Validation Program to collect the vaccination status of all of our caregivers throughout our U.S. locations. We are proud that the majority of our caregivers are already vaccinated, and we are encouraging those who are not yet vaccinated to receive their vaccine as quickly as possible.

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The majority of health care providers at both hospital systems are already vaccinated, according to statements issued to Fox 8.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost joined a coalition of Republican-led states demanding President Joe Biden order federal agencies to drop vaccine mandates, like the one from CMS.

“As proposed, the federal vaccine mandate is not only unlawful, its guise as a workplace safety measure further divides those still considering the vaccine,” Yost said. “I am vaccinated, but the President didn’t force me to – nor should anyone else be required by federal executive edict.”