Advocate Aurora Health, other major hospital systems won't mandate, but 'strongly' encourage, COVID-19 vaccines for employees

Major hospital systems in Illinois won't require their employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine on the cusp of federal approval.

The first doses of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech could reach hospitals as early as next week, launching a mass immunization campaign that experts hope will mark the beginning of the end of the pandemic.

"This is an incredible landmark," said Dr. Robert Citronberg, executive medical director of infectious disease and prevention for Advocate Aurora Health. "The fact that this vaccine was able to be developed in such a short period of time is one of the great scientific achievements of our time."

Limited supplies of the vaccine mean hospitals will prioritize shots for health care workers who directly care for COVID-19 patients and face the highest risk of contracting the virus. But at this point, hospital leaders say they're strongly encouraging that personnel receive doses.

"We don't feel like we have enough information to mandate it," Citronberg said. "We also don't think that's the right strategy right now. Encouragement, education are the ways to get people to take the vaccine. Now down the line, in subsequent months, that policy may change."

Edward-Elmhurst Health and Northwestern Medicine hospitals in the suburbs also won't force their employees to take the vaccine. Advocate Aurora Health is one of the largest systems in the Midwest, with 10 hospitals in Illinois and 16 in Wisconsin.

While Citronberg cited a lack of data about any possible long-term effects, he also sought to address public skepticism over the vaccine during a briefing with reporters Thursday, just as an advisory panel for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was meeting to consider whether to recommend its authorization for emergency use.

"The vaccine is incredibly effective, preventing COVID in about 95% of people who received the vaccine," Citronberg said. "It is not without side effects. Side effects are expected with vaccines, but there's no doubt that the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the risk."

Reported effects from the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine include muscle aches, sore arms, transient fatigue and fever, signs that the immune system is responding to the inoculation, Citronberg said.

"Those are all good signs. There were no serious safety concerns that were reported within that trial, and on balance, this is a really, really favorable report on the efficacy and the safety," he said.

Advocate Aurora officials didn't yet have specifics on how much of the vaccine the system will receive in the first shipments to Illinois and Wisconsin.

"We are prepared really for any amount of vaccine that comes in, in any state," Citronberg said. "We are in the process of prioritizing our team members to receive the vaccine at this time so when the vaccine is available, which we anticipate sometime next week, we'll be ready to go and we'll start immunizing our team members."

Systemwide, hospital leaders reported treating a total of 960 COVID-19 patients as of Wednesday, reflecting a slight downward trend, but they're bracing for a resurgence heading into the holidays.