Vaccines Required For Employees At Sentara Medical Centers

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VA — Sentara Healthcare will require all of its employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, the company announced on Wednesday. The vaccine mandate will affect workers at Sentara's two Prince William County facilities.

Employees will have to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18, the company said. Unvaccinated employees will have about eight weeks to get their shots.

Sentara's Northern Virginia Medical Center is located in Woodbridge on Opitz Boulevard. Their other medical center in the county is located near Lake Ridge on Minnieville Road.

Sentara said their vaccine mandate stems from concerns about the delta variant, with specific worry about its impact on unvaccinated people. "The highly contagious Delta variant is causing another spike in the number of COVID-19 infections nationally, with unvaccinated individuals at the highest risk," the company said in their announcement. "As the community's front-line defense against COVID-19, Sentara believes it has a moral and ethical responsibility to protect the health of its team members, patients, residents, and communities through a vaccination requirement."

Across the state, the number of COVID-19 cases is on the rise. In Virginia, the 7-day moving average of new cases a day has reached 2,234. It's the highest 7-day average since February.

Read more: COVID Cases In Prince William County Reach 5-Month High

"One of our longstanding commitments is to keep our community safe and to be a healthcare provider the community can safely choose," Sentara Regional President Paul Gaden said. "Based on data and evidence, the vaccine helps us do precisely that."

The Virginia Department of Health has launched a new dashboard that tracks breakthrough infections in vaccinated people. As of Aug. 14, which is the most recent available data, there have been 10,712 COVID-19 infections among fully vaccinated people in Virginia. This represents 0.2 percent of fully vaccinated people in the state. 0.0018 percent of fully vaccinated people have died from COVID-19, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

Read more: Virginia COVID Dashboard Breaks Down Cases By Vaccination Status

Sentara said their new vaccine mandate will apply to all affiliated physicians, volunteers, students, and others who work in and for Sentara. "I am beyond grateful to our team members for all of their hard work over the past year," Gaden said. "With this decision, we are taking the next step to put this pandemic behind us and continue to work together to protect our team members and community."