Beebe not mandating vaccines
Beebe Healthcare is not mandating the COVID-19 vaccine for its employees.
Dr. Bill Chasanov, an infectious disease physician and Beebe’s COVID-19 medical director, explained the healthcare group’s decision during a Sept. 22 town hall.
“We have researched a lot of major healthcare systems across the country that chose to mandate vaccines for COVID-19,” he said. “We met as a team. We made some very difficult decisions. And as opposed to making a mandate for vaccination, we chose to go a different route. We still want a high number, and as many team members that are eligible to receive the vaccination to receive it.”
Instead of mandating, Chasanov said Beebe is incentivizing.
“We have decided to promote it in numerous ways internally and to provide those incentives, and to be available to answer questions and guide our team members to make a decision that’s right for them,” he said.
Chasanov declined to provide the percentage of Beebe employees who are vaccinated.
“I will say I am extremely proud of our number,” he said. “We have a percentage rate that is significantly higher than the general population for the state of Delaware.”
Dr. David Tam, president and CEO of Beebe Healthcare, spoke at the same town hall about the recent struggles with hospitalizations at healthcare systems throughout the state.
“In the last several weeks, we reached a point where our emergency room and our ICUs were impacted,” he said. “It’s not just COVID-19. It’s because people are sick. Perhaps it’s because over the last year, people have not gotten their medical care and, as such, their diabetes or their hypertension, things like that, may have gotten out of control.”
The uptick forced Beebe to postpone elective surgeries.
ChristianaCare announced earlier this week its decision to fire 150 employees who did not get at least one dose of the vaccine by the Sept. 21 deadline. At the Lewes Board of Health meeting Sept. 28, Board Chair Dr. Paul Cowan, Beebe's emergency medicine specialist, commented on ChristianaCare’s decision.
“Healthcare is like everywhere else, where we’re struggling for employees right now,” he said. “It’s difficult to see those 150 people leave, but the state has a program that starts [Sept. 30] that mandates all healthcare facilities to track whether their employees are either vaccinated or weekly tested.”
Mayor Ted Becker asked Cowan for an opinion on whether the city should move forward with trick or treating this Halloween.
“I think it makes sense to encourage trick or treating,” Cowan said. “The reason I say that is it’s all outside. If you discourage trick or treating, it would encourage people to have trick or treating parties, and those would be inside – more people inside where there’s a greater risk.”
Becker said the city would also need to make a decision soon about the annual Christmas parade. He expects the board to discuss that event at its next meeting in early November.
