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Advocate Aurora Health requiring all 75,000 employees in Illinois and Wisconsin to get vaccinated

By FOX 32 Digital Team
Published  August 4, 2021 11:55am CDT
Coronavirus
FOX 32 Chicago

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Advocate Aurora Health announced Wednesday that all employees in Illinois and Wisconsin will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 15.

In a video released to employees, Advocate Aurora President and CEO Jim Skogsberg said,  "The data is overwhelming. This vaccine is safe, and it’s highly effective in preventing infection and even more so, serious illness and death."

Advocate Aurora said that inpatient COVID hospitalizations have increased five-fold in three weeks, and the system's current test positivity rates are the highest they have been since January.

CDC data shows that nearly all the people who have been hospitalized with, and have died from COVID in recent weeks have been unvaccinated.

Advocate Aurora said the requirement applies to all 75,000 employees, including remote workers and people who do not work with patients. Students and volunteers also have to be vaccinated by Oct. 15.

Experts say vaccine requirements are not new

With vaccines like measles and rubella being a decades-old requirement for students, many are wondering whether eligible students should be required to get the COVID vaccine.