Wesley Enhanced Living, manager of six senior living facilities, including one in Delaware County, is the latest in a growing list of health care providers requiring COVID-19 vaccines for its employees, writes Aubrey Whelan for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Nearly all of its 1,200 residents have been vaccinated. Employee vaccinations are hovering between 50 and 60 percent.

“We’ve been talking about it for a number of months. Truly, we do believe the vaccination is effective, and being in the health-care field, we just think it’s the right thing to do to protect not only our residents, who are among the most frail population in the country, but our employees,” said Jeff Petty, Wesley’s CEO.

In Pennsylvania, about 81 percent of residents in nursing homes have been vaccinated, but only 58 percent of staff.

The six Wesley facilities had a peak of 40 COVID cases a week in Spring 2020. It dropped after the arrival of personal protective equipment, but hit five to 10 cases a week in the fall and winter before vaccines were available.

Other health care providers in the area like Penn Medicine and Trinity Health now require staff to be vaccinated.

Read more at The Philadelphia Inquirer about senior center staff vaccinations.