Norristown Healthcare Facility To Require Universal Vaccination

NORRISTOWN, PA — Genesis HealthCare, a national post-acute care provider, announced this week that it is adopting a universal COVID-19 vaccination requirement for employees, care partners, and onsite vendors across the company.

The Kennett Square-headquartered company has a Norristown location on 1700 Pine Street.

The company called the decision "the logical fulfillment of the ethical commitment of all healthcare workers to put patients as well as residents of long-term care facilities first and take all steps necessary to ensure their health and well-being."

The company's Universal Vaccination Policy requires current staff, visiting providers, care partners, and onsite vendors to have a single dose of the Janssen vaccine or the first dose of a two-dose mRNA vaccine by Aug. 23. If applicable, the second mRNA dose would be needed by Sept. 22.

"Our highest priority is for every Genesis-affiliated center across the country to have a relentless focus on serving our patients and residents with high-quality care, in safety, security, and comfort, and with respect and dignity," said Harry Wilson, Chief Executive Officer of Genesis.

"Our move to adopt universal vaccination is an incredibly important decision, and we very seriously weighed the competing concerns before proceeding down this path. Despite vaccination rates above the national average, the growing spread of the Delta variant makes clear that we need to increase our vaccination rates substantially to better protect our patients, residents, and employees," Wilson said.

Wilson added, "While we would have greatly preferred a strictly voluntary process, our commitment to health and safety outweighs concerns about imposing a requirement. Universal COVID-19 vaccination provides the safest and most effective course of action to ensure the health and welfare of our patients, residents, and staff.”

In December 2020, Genesis began vaccinating patients, residents, and employees on a voluntary basis. Through communication, engagement, and trust-building, the Company set high goals for staff vaccination without attempting to impose a requirement. Genesis strongly encouraged vaccination among staff, residents and families and achieved above-average vaccination, with 85 percent of patients and residents and 65 percent of staff choosing to get the COVID-19 vaccine companywide.

Genesis said it supports the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living’s call for "all healthcare and long-term care employers to require their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19."

With reporting from Patch correspondent Marlene Lang