Doctor, nurse groups call for mandatory vaccinations of health workers

• Groups representing millions of doctors and nurses are calling for mandatory vaccinations for healthcare workers.
• The statement comes as vaccinations have stalled in the US, and cases of the delta variant rise.
• “We call for all health care and long-term care employers to require their employees to be vaccinated against covid-19,” the groups said in a statement reviewed by The Washington Post.

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The American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, and other groups representing millions of doctors and nurses are calling for mandatory vaccinations of all US healthcare workers. 

“We call for all health care and long-term care employers to require their employees to be vaccinated against covid-19,” the groups said in a statement reviewed by The Washington Post. “The health and safety of U.S. workers, families, communities, and the nation depends on it.”

The statement comes as vaccinations have stalled in the US, and cases of the Delta variant rise.

A February report by the health nonprofit Surgo Ventures found 15% of the approximately 1,300 healthcare workers offered the vaccine said they had turned it down. A recent ProPublica investigation found 40% of workers in nursing homes — places which suffered particularly high death rates from COVID-19 last year — have not gotten a shot. 

Vaccine hesitancy is resulting in a resurgence of COVID-19 in the country, according to the Biden administration. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are reporting an average of about 40,000 daily new cases of COVID-19.

The highly-contagious Delta variant accounts for most new cases, according to CDC director Rochelle Walensky.

“As the largest group of health care professionals, nurses are critical to all facets of COVID-19 response efforts and must strive to remain physically and psychologically safe to function optimally to care for themselves, their patients and their communities,” ANA president Ernest J. Grant said in a statement. “Nurses must get vaccinated.”

The American Medical Association was not immediately available for additional comment.

This is a developing story.