Advocate Aurora fires 440 workers who refuse to get COVID shotsBrett Chaseon October 20, 2021 at 6:15 pm

Brian Ernst/Sun-Times

The hospital system warned employees in August that they would lose their jobs if they did not get vaccinated.

Advocate Aurora Health, the largest hospital system in Illinois and Wisconsin, has fired more than 400 employees who refused to get vaccinated for COVID-19.

Almost half of the 440 recently terminated employees worked part time, the company said in a statement. The number is less than 1% of about 75,000 employees.

The system, which operates as Advocate Health Care in Illinois, announced in early August it would require its workers to get vaccinated. Other large hospitals made similar announcements just before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced full government approval of the Pfizer vaccine. Two other vaccines made by Moderna and Johnson & Johnson are being administered under an emergency authorization from FDA.

“With about 99% of our team members compliant or in the process of becoming compliant with our vaccine policy, we are protecting the health and safety of our patients, communities and each other,” Advocate said in a statement.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul got his COVID-19 vaccination in March at Advocate Health Care’s vaccine clinic at Imani Village in the Cottage Grove Heights.

Advocate is not providing a breakdown for the positions among those fired — nurses, doctors or other employees — and a spokesman declined to provide additional comment.

When it announced its mandate in August, Advocate said it would make limited exceptions for religious or medical reasons. The announcement also coincided with a rise in cases over the summer attributed to a highly contagious form of the virus known as the Delta variant.

Advocate Aurora operates 26 hospitals in the two states.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker in August issued a vaccination mandate for state health care workers.

Brett Chase’s reporting on the environment and public health is made possible by a grant from The Chicago Community Trust.

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