Epic Systems will require all U.S.-based employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by October 1.
The electronic health record giant sent a notice on Friday informing staff of the new policy, along with updated guidance around masking.
“We need our staff to be fully vaccinated to continue our important work. We will work with each employee to discuss how they can safely get vaccinated, but we recognize some employees may choose not to get vaccinated and hence will not be able to continue in their role,” a spokesperson told Madison, Wisconsin’s NBC 15.
In response to questions about whether exemptions will be available for those unable to get the vaccine for medical reasons, Epic representatives told Healthcare IT News that its human resources team would be reaching out individually to those who may have specific issues to figure out the best next steps.
Many healthcare companies have begun making noise about requiring employees to get vaccinated amidst a rising surge in the number of COVID-19 cases, especially among unvaccinated people.
But Epic is one of the first to implement such a policy.
The company notes that in order to be compliant, employees must have received their second vaccine by September 17. It says about 97% of employees at its Verona, Wisconsin, campus have already been fully vaccinated.
It plans to host two clinics for staff members to get the Pfizer vaccine in the next two months.
In addition to the new vaccine policy, as of August 3, Epic will also require mask wearing while getting food or drink at culinary outlets, including coffee carts. Individuals can remove their mask during consumption.
Local officials in Nanjing said that seven of those infected were in critical condition.
The new spike in cases has led some on Chinese social media to speculate about whether the Chinese vaccines were working against the Delta variant.
It is unclear if those infected were vaccinated.
A number of South East Asian countries relying on Chinese vaccines have recently announced they will use other jabs.
China has so far managed to keep the virus largely under control by closing borders and moving quickly to stamp out local outbreaks.
