A group of medical organizations representing tens of thousands of health care professionals in Virginia released a joint statement Wednesday urging residents to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.
As cases start to rise again, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has described COVID-19 as a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
The group, which includes the Medical Society of Virginia, Virginia Nurses Association, Virginia Pharmacists Association, Virginia College of Emergency Physicians and 25 others, said the recent uptick in serious illnesses and hospitalizations from the virus coincide with more people venturing back in public and the emergence of more aggressive mutations.
The delta variant, which ravaged India, is thought to be the dominant form of COVID-19 circulating in the state.
“Being vaccinated against COVID-19 represents a path to a healthier post-pandemic world by offering the best available protection for people against serious illness, the spread of infection, hospitalization, or worse health outcomes,” the group said. “Getting vaccinated offers protection to those who have been inoculated as well as the people around them in their personal and professional lives.”
In Virginia, more than 40% of the population hasn’t received any dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Meanwhile, new data from the Virginia Department of Health indicates 99% of all cases, hospitalizations and deaths that have occurred because of the coronavirus since late January are happening among those who aren’t fully inoculated.
About three in 10 unvaccinated adults, rising to about half of those in the “wait and see” group, say they would be more likely to get vaccinated if one of the vaccines currently authorized for emergency use were to receive full approval from the Food and Drug Administration, according to a June poll by Kaiser Family Foundation.
The joint statement comes on the heels of the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, one of the signatories, issuing a statement Monday calling on hospital systems to institute COVID-19 vaccination requirements for their employees. No Hampton Roads hospitals have agreed to do so.
For more information on where to find vaccines, visit vaccinate.virginia.gov or www.vaccines.gov. For phone assistance, call 1-877-VAX-IN-VA.
Elisha Sauers, 757-839-4754, elisha.sauers@pilotonline.com