More South Florida Health Systems Implement Vaccinate Mandates

According to an Aug. 16 article from Local10 by Glenna Milberg and Andrea Torres, more healthcare systems in south Florida are mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for workers.

Milberg and Torres wrote that “Baptist Health South Florida in Miami-Dade County and the Memorial Healthcare System in Broward County joined the growing list of organizations that are implementing vaccine mandates.”

A statement from Memorial Healthcare System said that “The vaccination mandate comes amid the latest surge of COVID cases at Memorial hospitals, with close to 700 patients, and statistics that show nearly all those in COVID units nationwide are unvaccinated.”

Milberg and Torres wrote that “Aurelio Fernandez, the president and chief executive officer of the Memorial Healthcare System, said the new policy is part of the ongoing effort to maintain a safe environment not only in the hospitals but also in the community at large.”

“Memorial estimates about 39 percent of workers are unvaccinated and set an Oct. 1 deadline with a $150 bonus program individual incentive and an additional $100 individual incentive if a group is vaccinated,” Milberg and Torres reported. “Jackson Health System’s deadline is Sept. 30, and the incentive program is $150. Baptist has an Oct. 31 deadline. Unvaccinated employees will face restrictions.”

Additionally, “Hospitals are also implementing other measures to deal with the surge. The Memorial system started to postpone elective procedures on Aug. 5. The Mount Sinai Medical Center issued an update on July 30, allowing only one visitor per patient at the emergency centers in Miami Beach, Aventura, and Hialeah. Any visitor exceptions are restricted to adults who have been screened for COVID.”

According to the CDC, as of Aug. 15, transmission of the coronavirus in Miami-Dade and Broward counties and the neighboring Monroe and Palm Beach counties is high.

Robert Goldszer, M.D., chief medical officer at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Fla., was quoted in the article saying that “It’s really day by day and we watch very carefully to make sure that we have the resources available to serve our community and every hospital in South Florida is like this.”