Baylor Scott & White Health to Require COVID Vaccines for 40,000 Workers

It’s getting real out there y’all!

Today, Baylor Scott and White, Texas' largest nonprofit healthcare system with over 40,000 employees, will begin requiring them to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

All employees must be fully vaccinated by October 1. That includes volunteers, medical staff, students, vendors, and also contracted workers.

BS&W's announcement comes after Texas has experienced a rapid rise in Delta Variant COVID cases.

According to The Dallas Morning News, in Bell County, just 33% of people 12 and older were fully vaccinated through Monday, which is lower than the U.S. vaccination rate of 57.6%.

Workers may have two choices: get the COVID vaccine or lose their jobs.

The company released a statement: “With rapidly rising COVID-19 case counts due to the highly contagious delta variant and the start of the flu season fast approaching, we believe now is the right time to take the next step in achieving a fully vaccinated workforce, The delta variant is the most contagious and dangerous strain we have seen to date, leading to exponentially increasing rates of severe illness and hospitalization. The overwhelming majority of these cases are among the unvaccinated.”

Our partners at News 10 report that Baylor Scott & White in Temple has rescheduled many elective procedures to make sure there're are beds and resources available for treating those most in need of care, something hospitals across the nation were doing during last year's peak in COVID-19 infections.

On top of getting vaccinated, something we can all do to help slow the spread of COVID-19 is continue to mask up in public and maintain a respectful distance from people when possible.

Workers at Scott and White may want to pay attention to what happened back in June at Houston's Methodist Hospital, where almost 200 people were terminated because they didn't get fully vaccinated.

What do you think? Should healthcare workers be required to be vaccinated?