Advocate Fires 440 Employees Who Refuse COVID-19 Vaccine

ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN — Advocate Aurora Health has fired 440 employees who refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

In a statement, Advocate officials said most of the terminated employees worked part time and made up less than 1 percent of the 75,000 employees employed with Advocate, the largest hospital system in Illinois and Wisconsin, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

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In August, Advocate Health Care joined other health care providers and organizations across the country when it issued its vaccination mandate. At that time, Advocate announced all employees needed to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 15 or provide an approved exemption. And if they didn't, they would be terminated.

This policy, according to Advocate, is the same process and policy in place when it comes to flu vaccine non-compliance.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports Advocate had this to say in a statement this past week: "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."

Patch.com has reached out to Advocate for more information. Sign up for Patch.com newsletters for more updates.

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