60 major medical + nursing groups issue joint statement mandating COVID vaccination for all healthcare + Long term care employees

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel,  Vice Provost for Global Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania and chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy spearheaded getting consensus statement amongst these groups. . U.S approved vaccines working to decrease COVID infections in those vaccinated.

Joint Statement in Support of COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates for All Workers in Health and Long-Term Care

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Due to the recent COVID-19 surge and the availability of safe and effective vaccines, our health care organizations and societies advocate that all health care and long-term care employers require their workers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. 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.

Because of highly contagious variants, including the Delta variant, and significant numbers of unvaccinated people, COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths are once again rising throughout the United States.1 Vaccination is the primary way to put the pandemic behind us and avoid the return of stringent public health measures. Unfortunately, many health care and long-term care personnel remain unvaccinated.

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. 

We call for all health care and long-term care employers to require their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19....

SIGNATORIES (Listed Alphabetically)

• Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP)
• American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing (AAACN)
• American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP)
• American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP)
• American Academy of Nursing (AAN)
• American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO)
• American Academy of PAs (AAPA)
• American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
• American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI)
• American Association of Clinical Endocrinology (AACE)
• American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP)
• American Association of Neuroscience Nurses (AANN)
• American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP)
• American College of Physicians (ACP)
• American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM)
• American College of Surgeons (ACS)
• American Epilepsy Society (AES)
• American Medical Association (AMA)
• American Nurses Association (ANA)
• American Pharmacists Association (APhA)
• American Psychiatric Association (APA)
• American Public Health Association (APHA)
• American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP)
• American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO)
• American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP)
• American Society of Hematology (ASH)
• American Society of Nephrology (ASN)
• American Thoracic Society (ATS)
• Association for Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
• Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC)
• Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)
• Association of Rehabilitation Nurses (ARN)
• Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS)
• HIV Medicine Association
• Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA)
• LeadingAge
• National Association of Indian Nurses of America (NAINA)
• National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP)
• National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN)
• National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA)
• National League for Nursing (NLN)
• National Medical Association (NMA)
• National Pharmaceutical Association (NPhA)
• Nurses Who Vaccinate (NWV)
• Organization for Associate Degree Nursing (OADN)
• Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS)
• Philippine Nurses Association of America, Inc (PNAA)
• Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO)
• Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA)
• Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM)
• Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP)
• Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR)
• Texas Nurses Association (TNA)
• The John A. Hartford Foundation Transcultural Nursing Society (TCNS)
• Virgin Islands State Nurses Association (VISNA)
• Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nurses Society (WOCN)

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

NPR

Dr. Zeke Emanuel On His Call For Health Care Employers To Require Vaccines For Workers
 

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SHAPIRO: To start, can employers require workers to get vaccinated while these vaccines are still under emergency use authorization?

EMANUEL: I think that's a legal question you're asking me, and I'm not a lawyer. But as I understand it, the answer to that is yes. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and courts have said that employers can require this vaccine, the COVID vaccine, even though it's under emergency use authorization. We should also remember that there's a mountain of data. A hundred and sixty-three million Americans have already been fully vaccinated. We know a lot about this vaccine, and it's tremendously effective and safe.

SHAPIRO: And given that health care workers are among those most at risk for this disease, can you explain why so many on the front lines remain unvaccinated?

EMANUEL: Well, I think they really reflect the rest of the population, which is - there's been a lot of misinformation. There's a lot of false understanding that, you know, it might cause infertility, might be incorporated into your DNA. And I think there's - you know, it often depends upon also the leader. You know, if there's a person on a nursing floor, and the head says, you know, I'm not going to do that, that influences everyone else. And I think when the head says, yes, that also influences everyone else. And so I think, you know, there's both big misinformation issues as well as local issues related to, you know, what the dynamic of the team is.

SHAPIRO: Tell us why you think mandates will move the needle. We've heard repeatedly that one of the best ways to get someone resistant to get the vaccine is to talk them through it - persuasion rather than coercion. So why do you think people will do this because their employer requires it?

EMANUEL: Well, first of all, Ari, we should - look. We have tried lots of things, right? We've made them - the vaccines readily available. You can go to any pharmacy and get them. We've made them free. Not only free, we've added incentives in many states. We've added education. We've worked with community leaders to try to persuade people. We've even had the president of the United States pleading with people on TV. That's gotten us to 50%, but we have to get much higher if we're really going to put COVID in the back mirror. And a lot of workers actually say if their employer requires it, they will get it. And you could see that at places like Houston Methodist, where they did have a mandate and over 99.5% of the workers there took the mandate and took the vaccine. I think, you know, nudging people to do the right thing often helps too. Lots of us know, well, we should do that, but don't get around to it. And the nudge of you have to do this help people - sometimes helps people get over that little barrier....