Efforts continue to vaccinate hospital employees

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Hospitals in North Carolina are still trying to get employees who are at risk to exposure to the coronavirus to get vaccinated.

The Raleigh News & Observer reported Tuesday that the state does not yet know what portion of nearly half a million eligible health care workers have been inoculated. That’s according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Hospital leaders are encouraging employees to get vaccinated. And they say they’re pleased with the results so far. That’s even though as many as one in four eligible workers remain unvaccinated.

Tony Lindsey, chief medical officer at UNC Health, said in late January that 78% of eligible employees got the vaccine.

Rhonda Brandon, chief human resources officer at Duke University Health System, said about 74% of Duke Health’s 9,000 eligible employees have chosen to get the COVID-19 vaccine so far. She called the rate “very positive.”

WakeMed said that it estimates that 70% of nearly 18,000 of its employees and independent health care workers have received their initial dose.