During a special-called Wednesday afternoon session prior to Thanksgiving, officials from the Trigg County Hospital Board unanimously approved the acceptance of a federal vaccination mandate — requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for all eligible staff at healthcare facilities that participate in Medicare and Medicaid programs.
Trigg County Hospital staff and officials not already inoculated against the coronavirus will have until December 5 to obtain a first dose and January 4 for a second one, or must be able to provide cogent and signed-off materials for “sincerely held” religious or medical exemptions lest eventually face terminable consequences.
CEO John Sumner and Chief of Staff Dr. Joe Thomas both iterated that while the institution continues to be pro-vaccination, the Trigg County Hospital heavily operates underneath the Medicare/Medicaid umbrella.
Because of this, Sumner said this makes the decision as much a financial one as it does medical.
Thomas noted there was considerable time taken to create appropriate verbiage for this local mandate, particularly to fall in line with both OSHA and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Applications for medical and religious exemption would be taken seriously and serviced through human resources, Thomas said, and those applications needed to be in by December 1 in order to properly assess and service them prior to the open vaccination window of 30 days for two-dose vaccines like Moderna and Pfizer, and a one-dose vaccine in Johnson & Johnson.
Thomas said medical exemptions had to be authorized by an accredited medical practitioner, while religious exemptions — though difficult to assess — needed to be documented and somewhat vetted.
Religious exemptions are explicitly tricky in nature. While some claim that the COVID-19 vaccine uses aborted fetal cells in its development, this isn’t accurate. At this time, no major religion has opposed the vaccine, while leaders from Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian Scientists, the Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention have all noted the vaccines are “morally permissible.”
The Pope has declared getting vaccinated is “an act of love.”
At the beginning of November, President Joe Biden and his administration required the vaccinations of eligible staff at health care facilities that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
In other action, the hospital board approved a series of bids for the renovation of the obstetrics unit into six more private rooms — totaling nearly $360,000 for six rooms. This includes the replacement and installation of windows, floors, electricity, plumbing, medical gas, heating and cooling, framing, insulation, drywall, ceiling grid, ceiling tile and doors.
Sumner said the cabinetry bid will be reposted in The Cadiz Record for two weeks, and hopefully secured soon.
