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A group of about 60 major medical organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association, called on Monday for mandatory vaccination of healthcare workers. The groups said the highly contagious Delta variant has triggered a new coronavirus case spike and that vaccination is an ethical imperative for healthcare workers. joint statement.

“Due to the recent increase in Covid-19 and the availability of safe and effective vaccines, our healthcare organizations and communities advocate that all health and long-term care employers require their employees to get the Covid-19 vaccine,” the statement said. . “This is a sensible fulfillment of all healthcare professionals’ ethical commitments to put patients and residents of long-term care facilities first and to take all necessary steps to ensure their health and well-being.”

The statement was signed by a wide range of professional bodies, including those representing doctors, nurses, pharmacists and infectious disease specialists.

In the past weeks, more hospitals and healthcare systems They announced that they will start giving all their employees the coronavirus vaccine. The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said: powers are legaland many hospitals already require their staff to get a flu shot.

D., an oncologist and bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania, who organized the joint statement. “Health organizations rarely agree on anything, but it’s something they talk about with one voice and unanimity,” said Ezekiel Emanuel. “I think this confirms the broad acceptance that this is the right thing to do for this country,” he said.

While many healthcare workers have been eligible for the vaccine since the first vaccines were approved in December, a significant proportion remain unvaccinated. For example, in New York 1 in 4 Hospital workers have not yet been vaccinated, according to government data. countrywide, only 58.7 percent of nursing home workers It is fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Some healthcare professionals have backed out against vaccination requirements. small group of employees sued Houston Methodist Hospital exceeded its authority. The case was dismissed last month, and more than 150 workers they were fired or resigned because they refused to be vaccinated at the hospital.

Some employers have been reluctant to require vaccines that are currently authorized for emergency use until they receive full approval from the Food and Drug Administration. This confirmation is pending, but could be months later.

Dr. Emanuel said some hospitals and healthcare organizations are using the lack of full approval as an excuse to delay vaccine requirements. In the joint statement, Covid-19 vaccines have proven to be both safe and effective.

“With more than 300 million doses administered in the United States and nearly 4 billion doses administered worldwide, we know that vaccines are safe and highly effective in preventing serious illness and death from Covid-19,” said Susan R. Bailey. The former head of the AMA said in a statement.

Exceptions can be made for small groups of workers who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons, the joint statement said.