Vaccination deadline looms for Mayo Clinic employees

(ABC 6 News) – Mayo Clinic announced that it is moving into the next phase of requiring Covid-19 vaccinations for employees.

In a memo sent to employees, Mayo said any employee unvaccinated on Dec. 3 will be placed on unpaid leave, and those still noncompliant on Jan. 3 will be terminated. More than 8,000 staff members are currently unvaccinated, according to Mayo Clinic.

While Mayo said it is encouraging that vaccination rates for overall staff have increased from 77.4% to 87.7%, since its vaccine initiative began in July, in a statement to ABC 6 News, Mayo spokesperson Kelley Luckstein said that this next phase is “in consideration of the safety of our patients, staff, visitors and communities.”

Mayo Clinic also stated there will be a review process available for staff to seek medical or religious exemptions to the vaccination and they will begin reviewing the exemption requests on Oct. 25.