A new survey from the Washington State Hospital Association shows even more healthcare workers will soon be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
CEO Cassie Sauer said in a news conference on Monday, October 11th, that the average COVID vaccination rate in the state is nearly at 90%.
“The really good news is that there’s been a significant increase in hospital worker vaccinations the last couple of months,” says Sauer. “So, we are today really glad to be reporting that, it looks like at the moment, we have a 88 percent vaccination rate statewide.”
She said that the latest data doesn’t currently reflect the number of employees who have only gotten 1 dose, or are waiting to be cleared for a medical exemption.
As for employees who have chosen not to get vaccinated.
“We don’t yet know the full impact of how many staff we will lose statewide,” says Sauer. “We think it’s between 2 and 5 percent of hospital staff that will not be able to work.”
Sauer said that a majority of the medical centers that would be impacted by the loss of unvaccinated staff are located in Eastern Washington.