Hilton Raethel, executive director of Hawaii Association of Healthcare.

Four of Hawaii’s major hospital systems announced today that they are requiring their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, joining a rapidly growing pool of healthcare employers nationally that are mandating the vaccine.

The Healthcare Association of Hawaii, the state’s trade group for hospitals and nursing homes, also announced today that it is supporting a vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.

The vaccine mandates come amid surging COVID cases in Hawaii and nationally as the highly contagious delta variant takes hold.

Adventist Health Castle is requiring employees to be vaccinated by Sept.

The Healthcare Association of Hawaii is also supporting mandatory vaccinations, though with the caveat that that the Food and Drug Administration first issue full approval for at least one of the available vaccines.