Over 50 health care organizations banded together to issue a statement in support of Covid-19 vaccine mandates for all health care workers and employees in long-term care facilities.
Hospitalizations and deaths associated with SARS-CoV-2 are once again on the rise throughout the U.S.—largely driven by the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus—and the overwhelming majority of recent Covid deaths have been among unvaccinated patients, Rochelle Walensky, MD, director of the CDC, pointed out in a press briefing by the White House Covid-19 Response Team earlier this month.
However, despite the enormous strain on the U.S. health care system during the Covid-19 pandemic and the fact that health care workers were granted earliest access to available Covid vaccines, a substantial number of workers have gone unvaccinated.
In light of this, dozens of health care organizations—including the American Medical Association (AMA), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Association for Clinical Oncology (ASCO)—issued a statement calling for “all health care and long-term care employers to require their employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19.”
“This is the logical fulfillment of the ethical commitment of all health care workers to put patients as well as residents of long-term care facilities first and take all steps necessary to ensure their health and well-being,” the organizations wrote. “…As we move towards full FDA approval of the currently available vaccines, all health care workers should get vaccinated for their own health, and to protect their colleagues, families, residents of long-term care facilities and patients. This is especially necessary to protect those who are vulnerable, including unvaccinated children and the immunocompromised. Indeed, this is why many health care and long-term care organizations already require vaccinations for influenza, hepatitis B, and pertussis.”
In a statement regarding the AMA’s support for vaccine mandates, AMA immediate past president Susan R. Bailey, MD, noted that, “With more than 300 million doses administered in the United States and nearly 4 billion doses administered worldwide, we know the vaccines are safe and highly effective at preventing severe illness and death from Covid-19. Increased vaccinations among health care personnel will not only reduce the spread of Covid-19 but also reduce the harmful toll this virus is taking within the health care workforce and those we are striving to serve.”
The organizations included in the statement applauded the growing number of experts and institutions that support universal vaccination of health care workers, adding, “While we recognize some workers cannot be vaccinated because of identified medical reasons and should be exempted from a mandate, they constitute a small minority of all workers. Employers should consider any applicable state laws on a case-by-case basis.
“Existing Covid-19 vaccine mandates have proven effective,” the statement continued. “Simultaneously, we recognize the historical mistrust of health care institutions, including among many in our own health care workforce. We must continue to address workers’ concerns, engage with marginalized populations, and work with trusted messengers to improve vaccine acceptance.”
Many hospitals and health care systems have already instituted vaccine requirements in recent weeks—and, on July 26, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced that it will require 115,000 of its frontline health care workers to receive the shot in the next two months, making the VA the first federal agency to pass such a mandate.
John McKenna, Associate Editor, BreakingMED™
Cat ID: 151
Topic ID: 88,151,556,730,933,31,926,561,927,151,589,928
