The CEO of BayCare has penned a letter to the community following President Biden's announcement that the federal government will mandate all employers with more than 100 workers to require vaccines or weekly COVID testing.
In his letter, Tommy Inzina said the hospital system will respect the decision and take the necessary actions to comply.
"This government announcement comes as questions have grown in our community about why local hospitals and other employers have not mandated the vaccine earlier. I would like to address that," Inzina wrote.
The CEO of West Central Florida's largest health care system says its hospitals have gone on record on several occasions to encourage vaccination.
"It is safe and effective and it is saving lives," Inzina added. "That’s why I want every one of BayCare’s 28,029 team members to get vaccinated."
He says his reasoning is to ensure workers done suffer from COVID complications, spread it to their families or friends and helps keep a healthy workforce available to assist the community at large.
From early August until recently, Inzina shares the entire hospital system reached nearly 40 percent higher COVID patients than it did during the 2020 pandemic peak. A time prior to vaccines being available.
"This onslaught of patients comes as our industry’s workforce is already stretched from the crisis. Every local hospital leader would tell you the same thing: It is the most severe staffing challenges we have seen in our lifetimes and relief is not yet in sight," Inzina wrote.
The BayCare CEO though also expressed hesitancy about the mandate his hospital's face. According to Inzina, a mandate could also create a negative impact "on health care access for our community."
Currently, BayCare is seeing 44 percent of its staff opting out of vaccination and Inzina is afraid that mandating vaccinations, while it will increase the rate, could prompt staff to leave.
"In recent months, as our hospitals filled with record numbers of sick patients, we knew we risked alienating a not-insignificant number of our team members. If even a small fraction of our non-vaccinated team members choose to exit the workforce rather than get vaccinated, we’d have even fewer team members to take care of patients, COVID or otherwise," he wrote.
Less staff means each nurse takes on more patients, it means slower test results and it means longer wait times in the emergency room, according to Inzina.
Still, BayCare, he said, will comply with the current federal manadate.
"We will work to implement this mandate on the timeline the government prescribes and simultaneously ensure quality health care for our community," Inzina wrote.