Vaccine vex: Mandates could hamper staffing shortages at Phoenix hospitals

Phoenix hospitals are being hammered by a third surge of COVID-19 as they continue to work amid severe staffing shortages. But medical professionals and experts worry those long-running shortages may only be further hampered by hospitals’ vaccine mandates, which require employees to get vaccinated against the virus as a condition of employment.

Several Valley health care systems have issued the mandate, including Banner Health, Valleywise Health and the Mayo Clinic. National data shows that 97% of recent hospitalizations and 99% of deaths are among the unvaccinated.

Banner Health, Arizona’s largest health care system, became the first provider in the state to mandate the vaccine for its employees. Banner staffers were told they must receive one of the three approved COVID-19 vaccines — Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson — by Nov. 1 or find a new place to work. The FDA gave Pfizer its full approval on Monday.