Highmark, AHN step up covid vaccination requirements for employees

Highmark Health and Allegheny Health Network officials said Tuesday they are taking strict measures to ensure their more than 43,000 employees get vaccinated against covid-19.

The health systems said they expect to reach a 100% vaccination rate for all eligible employees by the end of September unless they have a religious or medical exemption.

To date, about 73% of AHN’s 21,000 employees have been fully vaccinated against the virus.

“Since the beginning of this unprecedented health crisis in our community, AHN and Highmark Health have put the safety of patients, caregivers and the community at the forefront of our pandemic response strategy,” said Dr. Brian Parker, AHN’s chief quality and learning officer.

“It is abundantly clear, however, that the single most important thing an individual can do to protect themselves and others, and to help us bring this difficult pandemic to an end, is to receive the vaccine,” Parker said. “We expect all of our employees to heed that call, and the new requirements we are putting in place are intended to help us achieve that goal.”

The new vaccine requirement comes as emerging variants, such as the delta variant, have fueled a resurgence in covid-19 cases, particularly in parts of the country where vaccination rates remain low.

Last week, Allegheny joined a slew of counties throughout the state that are seeing “substantial” rates of covid-19 transmission, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Pittsburgh-based UPMC — Pennsylvania’s largest nongovernment employer — has not issued a vaccine requirement for its more than 90,000 employees, though UPMC leaders said in late July they have not ruled out the possibility of doing so.

Excela Health — which employs about 4,300 people as Westmoreland County’s largest hospital system and employer — told the Tribune-Review in late July they were contemplating requiring covid-19 vaccination for health care workers. They have not yet issued a vaccine mandate.

In addition to vaccination requirements, AHN and Highmark announced updated masking policies.

Unvaccinated AHN employees will be required to wear a face shield at all times while working in a hospital or clinical setting in addition to a face mask, which is required for all employees and visitors at the network’s facilities, beginning Monday.

Unvaccinated Highmark Health employees will be required to wear face masks at all times when working in the organization’s facilities.

Fully vaccinated Highmark Health employees will be encouraged to wear masks at work sites — particularly if they are in a location with high transmission of the virus or if they cannot abide by social distancing measures in their work environment. There is not, however, a mask mandate for fully vaccinated Highmark Health workers.

“We fully intend to reach 100% of our eligible employees having received the J&J single-dose vaccine, or at least the first of the Pfizer and Moderna two doses, by Sept. 30,” Parker said. “We will be closely monitoring our employees’ response to the new requirements we are implementing as further incentives to get vaccinated, and additional measures are being contemplated if necessary.”

Additional measures potentially could include mandatory weekly covid-19 testing for unvaccinated employees, he said.

The announcement from AHN and Highmark Health comes after more than 50 national health care organizations recently issued a joint statement advocating that all health professionals should be vaccinated against the virus. Among the letter’s signers are the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Nurses Association, the American College of Surgeons and the Department of Veteran Affairs.

Parker said he anticipates more health care providers — and other businesses — will require employees to be vaccinated against the virus after the Food and Drug Administration fully approves the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. All three vaccines used in the United States are approved by the FDA under an emergency use authorization only.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said Sunday he is hopeful the FDA will give its full approval of the vaccine within weeks.