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Medical groups call for mandatory vaccine for health care workers

By Karen Mansfield newsroom@heraldstandard.Com 2 min read
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Nearly 60 health care groups are pushing for mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for all health-care and long-term care workers.

The groups – including the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Nursing, and the American Public Health Association – issued a joint statement Monday.

The groups wrote, “Vaccination is the primary way to put the pandemic behind us and avoid the return of stringent public health measures.”

They cited highly contagious variants, including the Delta variant, and the significant number of unvaccinated people as contributing factors to the rise of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths throughout the United States.

“Unfortunately, many health care and long-term care personnel remain unvaccinated. We stand with the growing number of experts and institutions that support the requirement for universal vaccination of health workers,” the statement said.

The groups who signed the letter called getting the vaccine “an 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.”

So far, no major health care system in Fayette, Greene or Washington counties requires its employees to be vaccinated, but they urge employees to get the vaccine.

Allegheny Health Network said it currently has no plans to make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory, but “we believe strongly that everyone in our community should be vaccinated, and particularly health care professionals who are at heightened risk of exposure to the virus.”

At WVU Medicine Uniontown Hospital, more than 85% of employees have been vaccinated.

No other area hospitals provided vaccination rates among employees.

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced earlier this week that the agency will require health care workers to get COVID-19 vaccines. Employees – including doctors, dentists, physician assistants and others who work in departmental facilities or provide direct care to patients – will have eight weeks to get inoculated.

The group noted that the vaccines have proven to be safe and highly effective at preventing severe illness and death from COVID-19.

The medical groups said they are hopeful that other employers across the country “will follow our lead and implement effective policies to encourage vaccination.”

“The health and safety of U.S. workers, families, communities, and the nation depends on it,” the groups wrote in the letter.

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