Dozens of groups representing healthcare workers in America have released a joint statement calling for mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for their industry, arguing the step would be a “logical fulfillment of the ethical commitment” of the healthcare workers amid the uptick of COVID-19 cases.
The statement, put out by the American Medical Association (AMA) and 56 other groups, insists that shots are “safe and effective.” A statement by Susan R. Bailey, M.D., immediate past president of the American Medical Association, reads:
“It is critical that all people in the health care workforce get vaccinated against COVID-19 for the safety of our patients and our colleagues. 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 healthcare workforce and those we are striving to serve.”
Naturally, Dr. Bailey mentioned neither the staggering number of adverse reactions and tens of thousands of possible deaths caused by the vaccines, nor the breakthrough infections among fully vaccinated individuals.
The organizations rationalize the need for mandates by mentioning “highly contagious variants, including the Delta variant,” and “significant numbers of unvaccinated people,” who presumably drive the surge of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.
The statement continues, “Unfortunately, many health care and long-term care personnel remain unvaccinated As we move towards full FDA approval of the currently available vaccines, all healthcare workers should get vaccinated for their own health, and to protect their colleagues, families, residents of long-term care facilities and patients.”
They went on to call for employers to “implement effective policies to encourage vaccination.”
Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, known for his eugenics views, as well as poor prediction skills, helped organize that statement from the medical groups, complaining on PBS News Hour that 40 percent of American healthcare workers remain unvaccinated. He argued that it is the “obligation” of healthcare workers to put “patients first” and “promote their health and well-being,” seemingly implying the health and well-being of medics is secondary. Emanuel mentioned the workers already need to take such jabs as influenza and hepatitis, therefore, “in the midst of COVID-19, we’re supposed to take the COVID vaccine,” he concluded, but failed to detail that flu shots have been used since 1930s, the hepatitis A vaccine since 1995, and hepatitis B vaccine since 1981, and they are not universally required.
In one of the latest indications of a switch of the vax campaign tactics from cajoling to coercion, Dr. Emanuel further noted that despite the availability of the vaccines that are free of charge, half of the country and a large proportion of healthcare workers remain too stubborn to get them. “And if you can’t induce people to get the vaccine by all of these other mechanisms, then requiring them to fulfill their ethical obligation is something we have to move to,” he stated.
When asked about the possible response to the initiative, Emanuel expressed optimism, and mentioned the University of Pennsylvania Health System introducing COVID-19 vaccine mandates, first in the nation’s large academic healthcare system to do so. He said that private business and healthcare institutions will most likely follow suit “to be able to intersect with people and keep their jobs.” It was also mentioned during the program that on Monday, the Department of Veterans Affairs became the first federal agency to require some of its personnel (115,000 medical workers) to get a shot.
Dr. Emanuel dismissed a notion that some employees may be hesitant to introduce the measure in order to keep their workforce from leaving, citing the case of the Houston Methodist Health System network that employs 26,000 people, of which 99.5 percent have rolled up their sleeves in response to the mandate.
The largest union of healthcare workers in the United States, the 1199SEIU Funds that represents 400,000 healthcare workers nationwide, announced in late June that it will oppose forceful vaccination, saying the workers “have the right to make their decision about their own health.” The New York State Nurses Association, which represents more than 42,000 nurses statewide, has also taken a stand against vaccine mandates for healthcare employees as a condition of employment. The association argues that the public has legitimate concerns regarding the vaccines’ safety, efficacy, and effectiveness since the jabs have been developed and processed under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), and at “warp speed.”
The tide of the COVID-19 mandates is starting to come into force this week. In addition to the Monday VA mandate, a couple of states switched carrots to sticks to get more people jabbed. California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the Golden State will soon require state employees and all healthcare workers to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination, or undergo weekly COVID-19 tests. The mandate will apply to 246,000 state employees in California, and at least two million healthcare workers in both the public and private sectors. In a similar vein, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that a vaccine mandate would soon take effect for 340,000 municipal workers, teachers, firefighters, and police officers.
