CentraCare Announces COVID-19 Vaccine Requirement for Employees

CentraCare and Carris Health employees have been committed to and united in a common cause — to defeat the devastating effects of a deadly pandemic.

But the pandemic is not over. The virus is still greatly impacting our communities and the delta variant is reaching populations that have not been impacted before. As a health care organization, we have made a commitment to do everything in our power to save lives, protect patients and educate the community during this crisis. Because the health of our patients — and our staff members — means everything.

That is why CentraCare has made the decision to make the COVID-19 vaccine a requirement for all employees and clinicians of CentraCare.

“We did not come to this decision lightly and believe the decision to require vaccination best serves the collective good of our staff and community,” said Dr. Ken Holmen, President and CEO of CentraCare. “The science shows us that no other strategy has proven to be more effective in fighting this virus.”

CentraCare employees who have not yet received the COVID-19 vaccine will need to complete their vaccination series by Dec. 15, 2021.

The COVID-19 vaccination requirement applies to all CentraCare and Carris Health employees, including those who are working remotely, as well as others working within our facilities, which includes contracted employees, volunteers and students.

A process for requesting a medical exemption based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines or a religious exemption will be shared with employees.

More than 92% of CentraCare physicians and 94% of advanced practice providers have received the COVID-19 vaccine since it first became available in December 2020. And we've administered more than 174,000 vaccine doses to members of our communities.

A healthy future depends on every eligible resident getting vaccinated. At CentraCare, we are helping close the vaccination gap in our community and our workforce by doing what we can to keep our patients and our employees safe from serious illness, hospitalization or death from this virus.