Another Kansas City hospital mandates COVID shots for workers. Here’s how many left

Saint Luke’s Health System has reached nearly 100% compliance with its COVID-19 vaccination mandate for employees, hospital officials announced Monday.

Employees had until Oct. 30 to comply. As of Monday, 120 regular full- and part-time employees had chosen not to get vaccinated, 1% of more than 12,000 employees, the health system said.

That comes after Saint Luke’s in October offered employees a new benefits package, including a one-time $2,000 pandemic bonus for all regular, full-time employees on staff as of Dec. 21.

The hospital also raised its minimum wage to $17.50 an hour and boosted leave benefits to make it easier for employees to take care of sick family members.

When Saint Luke’s announced its vaccine mandate in August, it said about 65% of 12,000 employees were already vaccinated.

“We are grateful to everyone who has supported our efforts to get fully vaccinated to protect our health care workers and our community and to bring an end to this pandemic,” Dr. Melinda L. Estes, the health system’s president and CEO, said in a statement Monday.

Hospital officials said the high compliance was consistent with other local and national health care organizations that have set similar mandates, though some hospitals have struggled to entice workers to get vaccinated with twi doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or the single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

In September, University Health — formerly Truman Medical Centers/University Health — announced that 39 employees had resigned rather than comply with the health system’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate, less than 1% of workers there.

Employees of the University of Kansas Health System have until Dec. 1 to comply with the mandate there. Most have already gotten the shots, hospital officials said when they announced the mandate in September.

It applies to employees, volunteers, students, temporary workers and contractors working in Kansas City area facilities, affecting 12,839 people. All KU physicians must be vaccinated, too, officials said.

Children’s Mercy employees have until Dec. 15 to get vaccinated. When the hospital announced its mandate in September, officials said about 80% of employees already were fully vaccinated.