COVID-19 Vaccination Mandatory For Northwestern Medicine Staff

CHICAGO — Doctors and other staff who work for Northwestern Medicine will be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or face weekly coronavirus testing.

The 11-hospital group becomes the final major health care system in the Chicago area to declare a staff vaccine mandate. Hospital officials announced in a statement Wednesday that staff have until the end of next month to be fully vaccinated if they want to avoid the testing requirement.

"Nearly 80% of NM physicians and staff are now vaccinated," it said.

"However, given the spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant and its risk to those with underlying medical conditions and children under 12 who are not yet eligible to receive a vaccine, Northwestern Medicine physicians and staff will be required to complete COVID-19 vaccination or receive a medical or religious exemption by October 31."

Northwestern's announcement comes one day after Amita Health and Edward-Elmhurst Hospitals announced similar policies and two days after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

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• Amita Health To Require Vaccination For Employees
• Edward-Elmhurst Health Requires COVID-19 Vaccines For Employees
• Northwestern Faculty, Staff Required To Get COVID-19 Vaccine

Area hospital groups began announcing staff vaccination requirements last month.

Health systems to issue mandates now include Cook County Health, Loyola Medicine, Lurie Children's Hospital, NorthShore University HealthSystem, OSF Healthcare, Rush University System for Health, University of Chicago Medicine, University of Illinois Hospital and more.

Evanston-based NorthShore last week issued a statement announcing its policy, which takes effect the same day as Northwestern's. Making no mention of any exemptions, it said its mandate was in line with existing employee immunization requirements.

"Similar to our influenza vaccination requirement, NorthShore has implemented a team member COVID-19 vaccination requirement," it said.

"Requiring COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment is a critical and essential defense against this pandemic."