Mercy hospital on Thursday announced that the hospital chain’s workforce of more than 40,000 was fully vaccinated against COVID-19. KRPS’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.

Mercy, the nations seventh largest Catholic hospital system has facilities in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas announced fewer than 2% of their employees remain unvaccinated due to religious or medical exemptions. That’s roughly 800 out of 40,000 employees. As of Thursday, all current and future Mercy co-workers will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or have an approved exception. Mercy announced the vaccination requirement in July.

On October. 1, any co-worker who had not been vaccinated or received an approved exemption was placed on a 28-day unpaid suspension with full benefits and given the opportunity to follow the policy. Dr. John Mohart, Mercy’s chief clinical officer said of the vaccine mandate, “By requiring all co-workers to be vaccinated, we are making sure anyone who walks through any door of any Mercy facility is better protected from COVID-19.” For 89 9 KRPS, I’m Fred Fletcher-Fierro