Leading Health Care Organizations Push For Vaccine Mandate Among Facility Staff

Seven leading national organizations in the medical field released a statement this week advocating vaccination requirements for health care facility employees.

The groups said vaccination against COVID-19 should be a condition of employment. They went on to say the country will not achieve a sufficient vaccination rate otherwise.

The current national percentage of vaccinated skilled nursing facility staff is sitting at 58% on average as of June 13, according to data submitted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

The skilled nursing industry had hoped 75% of staff would be vaccinated by the end of June.

Students, contract workers and volunteers should also be required to get vaccinated, the organizations said, with exemptions applied to those with another condition barring them from receiving the vaccine.

Exemptions should be approved by occupational health departments with the help of human resources and legal counsel for employers.

“Unfortunately, many healthcare workers have still not taken the COVID-19 vaccination, which puts them and their patients at significant risk,” Christopher Laxton, Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine (AMDA) executive director, said in a statement.

Of 600,000 deaths resulting from COVID-19, 32% were part of the post-acute and long-term care (PALTC) population, the organizations stated. Strains like the dominant delta variant develop when the virus replicates, and replication can only occur in an unvaccinated population, according to the issued statement.

“After other measures to improve vaccine uptake have not been effective, requiring vaccinations for all employees is the best way to ensure that everyone eligible will receive them in a timely manner. AMDA is proud to be part of this important effort,” Laxton added in his statement.

Organizations reviewed vaccine efficacy for three approved for emergency use in the U.S. over the course of eight weeks; a panel consisted of experts working in health care epidemiology, infection prevention, infectious diseases, pharmacy, public health, law and human resources.

Other participating organizations include: the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA); the Association for Professionals in Epidemiology and Infection Control (APIC); the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA); the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS); and the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP).