Sanford Health says 97 percent in compliance with COVID-19 vaccine mandate

Sanford Health said 97 percent of its employees are in compliance with its COVID-19 vaccine mandate as of Friday.

“The vaccine mandate has worked,” Doug Griffin, the company’s vice president and medical officer in Fargo, N.D., said in a statement, The Associated Press reported. “As a result of our high employee vaccination rate, we have also seen a decline in Covid-19 infections and sick leave among staff.”

Sanford Health said that more than 70 percent of nurses are vaccinated along, and more than 90 percent of clinicians were vaccinated even before the mandate was announced in July. 

The company has 46 hospitals in the midwest and has 48,000 employees who had until Monday to get vaccinated or face possible termination. 

Griffin said those who don’t provide proof of vaccination or receive an exemption will be suspended without pay, according to the AP.

“Continued failure to comply with the COVID-19 vaccine requirements within 60 days will result in the employee being considered to have voluntarily resigned from their employment,” Griffin said. 

“We anticipate during this time that employees will make an effort to comply with the policy and overall we expect the number of staff departures tied to the mandate will be minimal,” he added.

The company mandated the coronavirus vaccine before the Biden administration announced that companies with more than 100 employees will have to mandate the vaccine. 

Although protests against the vaccine mandate have occurred, many companies have successfully implemented the mandate with few losses. 

However, some Republican-led states have completely banned COVID-19 vaccine mandates with court cases erupting across the country both for and against the mandates. 

The Hill has reached out to Sanford Health for comment.