Rush University Medical Center in Chicago says 99 percent of employees are vaccinated
CHICAGO - Rush University Medical Center in Chicago announced Tuesday that 99% of its employees are vaccinated.
Rush told workers in July they'd have to get shots by October 1. At the time, Rush said the average hospital vaccination rate was 65%.
"We are really excited. We had a lot of momentum for the vaccine," said Lisa Weichman Harries, Rush University Medical Center Director of Employee and Corporate Health Operations. "I think we've seen about the same amount of pushback that other hospitals have seen, where there's a small minority of employees not comfortable yet to get the vaccine."
Harries said that employees who have not been vaccinated have had to undergo weekly testing. Right now, the hospital is going through vaccine records to identify unvaccinated staff.
"We want to make sure that someone is truly non-compliant before we take the next step," she said.
She said that Rush is also offering boosters for everyone who is eligible. They are also giving flu shots.