ST. LOUIS — Time is up for Mercy employees who did not comply with the health system’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate or qualify for a religious or medical exemption.
The Chesterfield-based health care system on Thursday disclosed the percentage of staff who were terminated for refusing the vaccine. But Mercy, like other St. Louis-area hospital operators, declined to say how many employees received exemptions and are continuing to work unvaccinated.
After placing the obstinate Mercy employees on a 28-day suspension with full benefits, 2% of the system’s 40,000 employees — about 800 workers — still refused to get the jab, Mercy said.
The Mercy system includes more than 40 hospitals and 700 clinics in Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas.
“We prepared for this and knew we would unfortunately lose some of our co-workers,†Jeremy Drinkwitz, president of Mercy Hospital Joplin, said in a Mercy news release Thursday. “Patients come to us to get better, not to catch an illness. Our communities trust Mercy to do the right thing and to take care of them.â€
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Dr. John Mohart, Mercy chief clinical officer, also touted how its hospitals are safer: “What we all know is that when you visit a doctor’s office or hospital, you’re often already compromised in some way — whether it’s a cold or cancer or diabetes. That makes it even more urgent for us to make sure Mercy does everything possible to protect our patients, visitors and co-workers.â€
The other major health systems serving the St. Louis area — SSM Health, BJC HealthCare and St. Luke’s Hospital — have touted similar and even higher compliance rates than Mercy’s.
Like Mercy, their officials also declined requests by the ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ to provide the percentage of employees exempted from the mandates, or to grant interviews about how such exemptions were determined.
Instead, each provided written statements:
• Mercy: “As with other required vaccines (flu), we have co-workers with legitimate medical or religious reasons for not receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Mercy’s human resources team carefully reviews each co-worker’s request for an exemption following the existing process. Mercy has granted some exemptions for legitimate medical and religious reasons.â€
• SSM Health: “Staff is fully compliant with our policy requiring COVID-19 vaccine, either through vaccination, medical exemption or religious exemption. … We are not sharing the number of employees who fall into each category. However, we can share that the exemptions process was thorough and required review of all individual requests.â€
• BJC HealthCare: “Medical and religious exemptions were considered on a case-by-case basis utilizing a set of equitably applied standards established by our Occupational Health, Infectious Disease, Legal and Human Resources teams.â€
• A St. Luke’s Hospital representative wrote that doctors and “religious professionals†review requests for exemptions.
All four systems require any unvaccinated employees with an exemption to submit to routine COVID-19 testing.
The Post-Dispatch requested the information as religious objections to vaccines, once used sparingly around the country to be exempted from various required immunizations, are reportedly becoming a more widely used loophole against the COVID-19 shot.
Locally, during public comments at a September meeting of the St. Louis County Council, conservative activist Zina Hackworth pointed to Matthew Sheffer, a pastor at Church of the Word near Fenton, and told the crowd to visit him or other clergy to get an attestation of faith.
“I want you to know there is a religious exemption,†Hackworth said. “If you do not want to take this, this vaccine, get in touch with Church of the Word or any other pastor.â€
Sheffer declined to comment to the Post-Dispatch about Hackworth’s statement.
The federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for employees who object to work requirements because of “sincerely held†religious beliefs.
Many major religious denominations have no objections to COVID-19 vaccines, but a religious belief does not have to be recognized by an organized religion, and it can be new, unusual or “seem illogical or unreasonable to others,†according to rules laid out by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
But it can’t be founded solely on political or social ideas, leaving employers to probe whether an employee’s religious rejection is in fact sincere. This comes at a time when many, including hospitals, are under pressure from staff shortages.
Transparency elsewhere
Elsewhere, some hospital systems have been forthcoming with the public about the number of employees seeking exemptions and why.
that Bristol Health, a small system with 1,800 employees, approved 46 applications for COVID-19 vaccine exemptions, 39 of which were granted on religious grounds. That was far less than the number of exemptions sought and granted for the flu vaccine.
In interviews with the Hartford-based online news organization, officials with Yale New Haven Health and Hartford HealthCare also discussed seeing a spike in applications and approvals for religious exemptions and provided specific numbers.
Of 855 requests for religious exemptions for COVID vaccines, Yale New Haven approved 449 and denied 416. The health system has about 30,000 employees.
At Hartford HealthCare, about 1,000 employees out of its 34,000 had at the time sought exemptions, mostly for religious reasons. That was higher than those seeking religious exemptions for the flu vaccine.
In Arkansas, the privately run about 5% of the staff requested religious or medical exemptions.
CEO Matt Troup revealed that objections were largely based on objections that the vaccines used fetal cells in research.
In the 1970s and ’80s, cells were grown in a lab from aborted fetal tissue. The cells have multiplied, creating “cell lines†that are commonly used in research.
The Conway hospital responded to the employees by sending them a list of 28 medications often found in medicine cabinets — such as Tylenol, Motrin, Tums, Pepto-Bismol, Benadryl and Sudafed — that it said were developed using the cell lines. The employees had to sign the form and attest that they don’t and will not use any of the listed medications.
At least one nurse has said Mercy was strict when considering exemptions. Beth Petersen described herself as a nurse who works for Mercy when she spoke during public comments at a Sept. 14 St. Louis County Council meeting.
Petersen said at the time that several employees had religious or medical reasons for not getting the COVID-19 vaccine. She said it was difficult to obtain an exemption, even though she works in telemedicine.
“Many Mercy coworkers had expressed their fear to me that we would be forced to take the vaccine or lose our livelihoods and careers,†she told council members.
In Mercy’s announcement Thursday, senior vice president Dr. Jeff Ciarmata said the public can feel confident they are safe when visiting Mercy facilities.
“Virtually all of our co-workers have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19, making it highly unlikely that our co-workers would spread the virus,†Ciarmata stated.
Lottie Gross, 5, of Oklahoma City, was born with a heart defect and has had numerous operations and stays at Mercy. Her mom says she is thankful for Mercy's vaccine mandate. Photo provided by Mercy
The announcement also quoted the mother of 5-year-old Lottie Gross, born with a congenital heart defect, and who has had multiple operations and hospitalizations at Mercy for respiratory illnesses.
“It brings a huge sense of relief to know her health care team is vaccinated and that her doctor’s office is a safe place to bring her,†said Rachel Gross, of Oklahoma City.
