COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — Kootenai Health reports nearly all of its employees have complied with its COVID vaccine requirement.
Employees were required to get vaccinated or request a medical or religious exemption by Dec. 13, with employees who didn’t comply forced to resign or leave on Dec. 21.
Kootenai Health said that as of Dec. 21, more than 99.9% of its employees are complying. That includes 78% of workers who are fully vaccinated and 22% who have requested a medical or religious exemption.
Kootenai Health said 18 employees did not comply with the COVID vaccine rules and “chose to resign or to not receive a COVID-19 vaccination or to file an exemption of any kind.” The hospital employs nearly 3,700 people.
Kootenai Health provided a written statement on the resignations:
Keeping our staff members and patients safe remains a top priority for Kootenai Health. As a result, consistent with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and the rule published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Kootenai Health developed a policy that requires COVID-19 vaccination, but also makes allowances for employees seeking medical and religious exemptions. Because the policy was designed to protect patients and staff while respecting employees needing an exemption, we were hopeful that all employees would comply with it; more than 99.9 percent have.
We are pleased to report that as of Dec. 21, more than 99.9 percent of our nearly 3,700 employees are in compliance with the COVID-19 vaccine requirement. Of these, 78 percent are fully vaccinated, and 22 percent have requested a medical or religious exemption. Ninety-nine percent of exemption requests have been granted by Kootenai Health. In total, eighteen employees chose to resign or to not receive a COVID-19 vaccination or to file an exemption of any kind.
