A Missouri hospital system has become the latest in the U.S. to mandate that its employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Mercy Health hospital system, headquartered in Chesterfield, Missouri, has given its 44,000 workers until September 30 to get fully vaccinated or risk termination.
The system, which also Arkansas, Oklahoma nd Kansas, says so far 75 percent of its employees have received at least one dose.
Hospitals like Mercy's St Louis location and its locations in Arkansas have been hit hard by a surge in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks as the Indian 'Delta' variant sweeps through both states.
Mercy also has a location in Springfield, in southwest Missouri, the area of the country being among the hardest hit by an early-summer COVID surge.
Mercy Hospital is mandating that all employees get vaccinated by September 30 to keep their jobs. Pictured: The system's St Louis location
'As health care leaders in our communities, it is important we set the standard to prevent the spread of COVID-19,' Dr William Sistrunk, an infectious disease specialist told the St Louis Post-Dispatch.
'Our goal is to ensure the safest possible work environment for our co-workers and patients while also being a part of the effort to stop the spread of the virus in the communities we serve.'
Mercy Health employs 44,000 people between its 25 locations.
It joins Houston Methodist hospital (26,000 employees) and NewYork-Presbyterian (46,000 employees) among other major hospitals nationwide to institute vaccine mandates.
Three other hospital systems that serve the St Louis area have also instituted vaccine mandates in recent weeks - BJC HealthCare and Washington University