BOISE, Idaho — After the 208 received a viewer question about traveling nurses potentially having different COVID-19 vaccine requirements than local nurses, KTVB reached out to local medical companies to find out more.
St. Luke's Health System said in a statement to KTVB that "contractors are required to comply with our policies." St. Luke's paused its vaccine requirement on Sept. 17 when Idaho was under crisis standards of care, but then reimplemented its requirement at the end of November.
According to St. Luke's, only 0.04 percent of employees chose not to comply with the Dec. 3 deadline to be vaccinated or approved for an exemption or accommodation. St Luke's said a total of 17,000 employees and providers have been vaccinated.
"Contractors are required to comply with our policies. Their staff are required to be vaccinated or they can request a medical exemption or religious accommodation through their employer," St. Luke's said. "Employers of contracted staff must be able to provide proof of compliance with policy or an approved exemption/accommodation as required, upon request."
As for Saint Alphonsus, they said all working personnel are required to be vaccinated against COVID-19, including traveling nurses and health care providers.
"In July when we announced the vaccine requirement, we stated that colleagues, volunteers, vendors and contractors who do business inside Saint Alphonsus facilities are required to be vaccinated against COVID-19," Saint Alphonsus said in a statement to KTVB. "This includes travel nurses and other traveling health care providers. So while there may be cases where travel nurses are able to work without being fully vaccinated, that is not the case at Saint Alphonsus."
KTVB also reached out to West Valley Medical Center. Officials said West Valley paused its vaccine requirement Dec. 6 following court orders to pause the rule from President Joe Biden's administration and its rules remain the same indefinitely.
West Valley Medical Center did tell KTVB the majority of its employees have been vaccinated.
"When the CMS took action in late 2021 to mandate vaccination in healthcare settings, we began working to implement a process to comply with the requirement, West Valley Medical Center officials said. "But before that requirement took effect, federal court decisions resulted in the CMS mandate being put on hold indefinitely. As such, we have paused our vaccine requirement."
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