INDIANAPOLIS — EDITOR'S NOTE: The video above is from a previous report about health care workers getting the COVID-19 vaccine shortly after it became available.
Ascension St. Vincent said all employees will soon be required to receive a COVID-19 vaccination.
Ascension said thousands of employees have already received the vaccination, but more must be done to overcome the pandemic.
Ascension said the timeline for completing the vaccine series and meeting the requirement will be Nov. 12, 2021.
In the instances when someone may not be able to get vaccinated due to a medical condition or strongly held religious beliefs, Ascension will provide a process for requesting an exemption similar to the process we use for the annual influenza vaccine.
Ascension has 160,000 employees nationwide and operates 22 facilities in Indiana.
Both Community Health Network and Indiana University Health announced vaccine requirements for their employees in June.
While many health care workers had already been vaccinated, there were some IU Health employees who openly opposed the mandate and protested in downtown Indianapolis. An online petition seeking to end the requirement has more than 13,000 signatures.