Hospital systems are making decisions on whether to require employees, contractors and volunteers to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Across Texas, the Department of State Health Services says 62.02% of Texans 12 and older have received at least one dose of the vaccine; 52.77% are fully vaccinated.
The rate of vaccinations in Texas has slowed from 1,894,136 the week of April 5th to 363,905 last week. Over that same period, hospitalizations have increased from 2,882 to 6,594. The DFW Hospital Council says COVID-19 patients now use 29% of ICU beds.
"It's frustrating because, being a front-line physician, I have seen what it's capable of doing," says Dr. Fahmi Farah, a cardiologist in North Texas and chief executive officer of Bentley Heart. "I have seen what our ICUs and hospitals looked like at the peak."
In North Texas, Texas Health Resources plans to require employees to be fully vaccinated by September 10th. Baylor, Scott & White, and Methodist Health System plan to require vaccinations by October 1st.
Parkland Hospital, which is a public system, is not allowed to require vaccinations. Monday afternoon, JPS Health Network said it did not yet have an update.
Farah says she supports a requirement for COVID-19 vaccinations, saying most hospital systems require other vaccinations.
"The flu virus, for instance, every year, we have to provide proof we've taken our flu vaccine shot," Farah says. "The reason is the impact it has on our society, especially in a hospital setting. Every year, during the flu season, our hospitals fill up with patients, our ICUs fill up with patients. The purpose of requiring the vaccine for employees is to protect employees from the flu but also, on the other side, to protect the patients they're serving. I don't see the requirement of the COVID vaccine as any different."
Farah is urging anyone who is eligible, not just hospital employees, to get vaccinated. She says vaccinations are even more important as a result of the Delta variant, saying the variant is more easily spread.
"I have seen the devastation, the lives lost and what the family members go through," Farah says. "That's just something we don't want to see again. It's difficult for patients who go through it when they're in the hospital. It's difficult to see lives lost. It's difficult to see the patients' family members suffer, and this is something that can be prevented.
"The new variant is here, the Delta variant, which is highly contagious, it's more dangerous and it is causing people to get more sick. Precautions need to be taken. As a healthcare professional, I can say that, and this is preventable. The vaccine is one of the key methods of preventing this. Strictly from a scientific and medical standpoint, I do think it's reasonable for hospitals to require vaccinations. I do urge and encourage everyone who's eligible for the vaccine to take the vaccine," she says.
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