On Aug. 9, Gov. Jay Inslee issued a proclamation that requires long-term care employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 18. Unless an employee qualifies for exemption, vaccination will become a condition of employment on that date.
“It is the mission of public servants and those providing health care to serve our fellow Washingtonians,” Inslee said at a press conference announcing the mandate. “These workers live in every community in our state, working together and with the public every day to deliver services. We have a duty to protect them from the virus, they have the right to be protected, and the communities they serve and live in deserve protection as well.”
Implications for care and operations at CHCC
Inslee’s vaccine mandate means that COVID-19 vaccination will become a condition of employment at health care centers in Washington state on Oct. 18. CHCC must comply with the proclamation by not allowing unvaccinated people to work at the Lynden long-term care center without an official exemption. If CHCC does not follow the mandate, it could be penalized.
CHCC recognizes the difficult position the proclamation puts unvaccinated staff members in. This is also a difficult time for health care providers like CHCC, because we believe that each person who works here is an important member of the team. We need all staff members, and our residents need them, too.
The human resources team at CHCC is working with unvaccinated staff members to help them explore official exemptions or vaccination.
While the proclamation creates hardships for a wide range of individuals and organizations, CHCC acknowledges that efforts to reduce the spread of this deadly virus must continue. We remain committed to our residents and staff, and, for the greater good of all, CHCC will continue to comply with the laws and policies that have been put in place during the pandemic.
Official vaccine approval
The Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, officially approved the Pfizer vaccine on Aug. 23. According to the press release, “FDA-approved vaccines undergo the agency’s standard process for reviewing the quality, safety and effectiveness of medical products.”
The newly approved vaccine, which has been known as the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, will now be marketed as Comirnaty for the prevention of COVID-19 disease in individuals 16 years of age and older.
Updated mask mandate
In addition to the vaccine requirement, there is a new mask mandate in place at CHCC and throughout the state. On Aug. 19, the Washington State Department of Health issued an order that requires every person (except children younger than 5 and people who are medically unable to wear a mask) in Washington state, regardless of their vaccination status, to wear a face covering when they are in a place where people outside their household are present.
Here at CHCC, a household includes only the people who live in a shared room.
To comply with the health department’s order, all residents at CHCC, regardless of vaccination status, must again wear face coverings when they are outside of their rooms.
In addition, volunteers and visitors are required to wear a face covering at all times they are in the building.
CHCC continues to encourage everyone — regardless of where they work — to help stop the spread of COVID-19 by washing their hands frequently, wearing face coverings when around people they don’t live with, practicing social distancing and becoming fully vaccinated.