Roper St. Francis Healthcare mandating COVID vaccines for all employees

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Roper St. Francis Healthcare is mandating the COVID vaccine for all its employees. Hospital officials said on Tuesday that the FDA approval of the Pfizer vaccine paved the way for the mandate.

Full vaccinations are required by Nov. 1, and there be medical and religious exemptions.

Roper joins MUSC and Tidelands Health in requiring vaccines for employees. Trident hospital officials say the vaccine is still optional but encouraged at their facilities.

“We recognize there may be situations in which unvaccinated teammates need deadline extensions, such as if they currently have the virus and need time to recover. We will work with these teammates,” Roper officials said.

“Our decision to mandate this vaccine does not come lightly. It is simply the right and responsible thing to do. Hundreds of thousands of healthcare workers across the country have contracted the virus, and more than 3,600 died in the first year of the pandemic,” officials with the healthcare system said. “Unvaccinated healthcare workers create more risks for our patients.”