Dignity Health to require COVID-19 vaccine for employees

PHOENIX — Another Arizona health care provider is adding a COVID-19 vaccination requirement for employees.

Dignity Health announced Thursday all staff must be vaccinated against the virus by Nov. 1.

That includes all physicians, advanced practice providers, volunteers and others caring for patients within facilities, according to a press release.

Medical and religious exemptions will be available for those who qualify.

“As health care providers, we have a responsibility to help end this pandemic and protect our patients, our colleagues and those in our communities,” Dignity said in the release. “Requiring vaccination for our teams is critical to maintaining a safe care environment.”

Dignity Health is one of several Arizona health care providers to announce a COVID-19 vaccine requirement in the past month.

Banner Health, Arizona’s largest hospital system, announced on July 20 it will require employees to be vaccinated by Nov. 1.

Since then, Honor Health, Phoenix Children’s, Sonora Quest Laboratories and Valleywise Health have followed suit.

The growing push for vaccines comes as the delta variant drives case and hospitalization numbers in the state to their highest levels in months.

Health officials say that nearly all of the serious illnesses and deaths from COVID-19 are among people who aren’t vaccinated.

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