More than 50 associations representing various sectors of the U.S. health care industry announced their support Monday for mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for health care workers, citing the need to keep patients safe.

The American Medical Association, American Nurses Association and American Pharmacists Association were among the groups that put their names on a joint statement calling hospitals, clinics and other health care providers to require vaccinations for staff. They noted many of these same organizations already require vaccinations for influenza, hepatitis B and pertussis.

"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," Susan Bailey, immediate past president of AMA, said in a separate statement. "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."

The signatories join a growing chorus of medical associations urging mandatory vaccinations for health care staff. The American Hospital Association and America's Essential Hospitals recently spoke out in support of member hospitals adopting such a policy. Before that, Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and six other medical groups representing infectious disease experts said health care providers should require vaccinations.

The signatories of the most recent statement acknowledged that some health care workers may have medical conditions that prevent them from getting vaccinated, so should be exempt from a mandate, but added "they constitute a small minority of all workers." They also recognized there exists historical distrust in medical institutions among some marginalized populations and that health care professionals must engage with those groups to become "trusted messengers to improve vaccine acceptance."

"As the health care community leads the way in requiring vaccines for our employees, we hope all other employers across the country will follow our lead and implement effective policies to encourage vaccination," the groups said. "The health and safety of U.S. workers, families, communities, and the nation depends on it."

List of signatories:

• Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy
• American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing
• American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• American Academy of Family Physicians
• American Academy of Nursing
• American Academy of Ophthalmology
• American Academy of PAs
• American Academy of Pediatrics
• American Association of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
• American Association of Clinical Endocrinology
• American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy
• American Association of Neuroscience Nurses
• American College of Clinical Pharmacy
• American College of Physicians
• American College of Preventive Medicine
• American College of Surgeons
• American Epilepsy Society
• American Medical Association
• American Nursing Association
• American Pharmacists Association
• American Psychiatric Association
• American Public Health Association
• American Society for Clinical Pathology
• American Society for Radiation Oncology
• American Society of Health-System Pharmacists
• American Society of Hematology
• American Society of Nephrology
• American Thoracic Society
• Association for Clinical Oncology
• Association of Academic Health Centers
• Association of American Medical Colleges
• Association of Rehabilitation Nurses
• Council of Medical Specialty Societies
• HIV Medicine Association
• Infectious Diseases Society of America
• LeadingAge
• National Association of Indian Nurses of America
• National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners
• National Council of State Boards of Nursing
• National Hispanic Medical Association
• National League for Nursing
• National Medical Association
• National Pharmaceutical Association
• Nurses Who Vaccinate
• Organization for Associate Degree Nursing
• Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society
• Philippine Nurses Association of America, Inc
• Society of Gynecologic Oncology
• Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America
• Society of Hospital Medicine
• Society of Interventional Radiology
• Texas Nurses Association
• The John A. Hartford Foundation
• Transcultural Nursing Society
• Virgin Islands State Nurses Association
• Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nurses Society

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