Children’s Health in Dallas has announced it will require all of its employees to be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. The hospital arrived at the vaccine mandate decision as COVID-19 infections and hospitalization cases continue to rise throughout North Texas.
Children’s Health has decided that all staff, physicians, volunteers, students/trainees, vendors, and contractors must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 1. Hospital officials added that around 80 percent of staff in Children’s Health are already vaccinated.
“We are privileged to care for some of the most medically complex children in the region, and we believe it is our ethical duty to protect them and the nearly 70 percent of our patients who are younger than 12 years old and ineligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine,” a hospital spokesman said in a statement.
Cook Children’s also announced it will require all of its staff to be fully vaccinated by noon on Sept. 27. Over 95 percent of physicians and 66 percent of employees at Cook Children’s are vaccinated presently.
“Given how close we are to critically ill children, we know this is the right decision for our system and ultimately our patients,” said President and CEO Rick W. Merrill.
Children’s Health’s vaccine mandate follows Baylor Scott & White, Methodist, and Texas Health decisions to mandate vaccines for all their employees.