Carilion announces COVID vaccine mandate

ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - Carilion Clinic has announced all its employees must be vaccinated against COVID-19 by January 4, 2022.

A Carilion spokesperson says, “Like healthcare systems across the country, we are complying with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) mandate, which requires healthcare organizations to fully vaccinate their teams against COVID-19 as a term of employment.”

In early November, the Biden Administration announced the requirement of COVID-19 vaccination of eligible staff at health care facilities that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

“Ensuring patient safety and protection from COVID-19 has been the focus of our efforts in combatting the pandemic and the constantly evolving challenges we’re seeing,” said CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. “Today’s action addresses the risk of unvaccinated health care staff to patient safety and provides stability and uniformity across the nation’s health care system to strengthen the health of people and the providers who care for them.”

Based on CMS rules, exemptions are in place for religious or medical reasons.