Rex, UNC Medical Center and Duke hospitals will require employees to get vaccinated

Several hospitals in the Triangle say they will require their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, changing a policy of voluntary inoculation that’s been in place since the vaccines became available last winter.

All three Duke Health hospitals and four UNC Health Hospitals in Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Siler City and Johnston County are among the first in North Carolina to require vaccination.

The move comes as the association that represents hospitals in the state came out in favor of mandatory vaccination for all health care workers. The N.C. Healthcare Association represents all 130 hospitals in the state.

“Our state’s health systems and hospitals have seen first-hand how debilitating and deadly this disease can be,” the association said in a statement Thursday. “When the COVID-19 vaccines were first released, the NCHA and its members strongly encouraged all North Carolinians, including hospital and health system employees, to get vaccinated against COVID-19. In the months since, clinical data has shown the COVID-19 vaccines to be extraordinarily safe and effective, and our best tool to prevent the spread of the disease.”

This story is developing and will be updated.