Ochsner to Require All Employees to be Vaccinated

There are currently three vaccines approved for use against COVID-19 in the United States. The data from those who have taken the vaccines seem to support the concept that they are not only safe but quite effective. Still, there are many who have questions and concerns about the vaccine. To those individuals, the concerns about the vaccines outweigh the risk of not getting them.

Oddly enough, there are many people in the medical community who have expressed enough concern about the way the vaccines were "rushed" into approval by the FDA. Still, that governing body did give Pfizer, Moderna, and the Johnson&Johnson vaccines the go-ahead for use under an Emergency Use Authorization. 

Now as COVID infections are once again on the rise across Louisiana and the nation the call for more people to get vaccinated has increased with greater urgency. Ochsner Health System has announced, in response to those rising COVID cases, that all employees of that facility must be vaccinated.

That mandatory vaccine policy will not be enforced until the FDA has removed the Emergency Use Authorization from the vaccines and granted them full approval for use. Currently, none of the vaccines, Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J have not earned that full use approval.

However, that full use approval is expected to be granted in a matter of weeks if not a matter of days. Ochsner Health System says 61% of its staff is already vaccinated against the disease.

Ochsner also announced changes in its visitor policies in response to the rise in coronavirus cases. In fact, almost every healthcare facility in the state has revisited its visitor policies in the past week or so as Louisiana has seen some of its highest daily coronavirus cases counts since the beginning of the year.