St. Luke’s Health will require all of its 11,000 employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Nov. 1, 2021, according to an Aug. 12 announcement. This requirement will extend to all physicians, Advanced Practice Providers, volunteers and others caring for patients within a St. Luke’s Health facility. Medical and religious exemptions will be available for those who qualify.
That includes employees working at St. Luke’s 16 acute care hospitals located in Greater Houston, East Texas, and the Brazos Valley, and over 270 access points including numerous urgent care centers, freestanding emergency departments, and clinics.
Much like the Texas Children’s Hospital announcement made Aug. 11 requiring its employees to get vaccinated, St. Luke’s Health cited the surge in coronavirus cases caused by the delta variant, which has put over 2,200 patients in TMC hospitals, as a reason for its vaccine requirement.
St. Luke’s Health’s vaccine requirement marks the fifth hospital system at the Texas Medical Center to do so, following Texas Children’s Hospital’s vaccine mandate, Houston Methodist’s June requirement, and mandates at Memorial Hermann and Baylor College of Medicine, which jointly operates Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in the Texas Medical Center alongside St. Luke’s Health.
