Students, Faculty, Residents, Staff, Alumni, Board Members and Friends,
Good morning from sunny Elkins Park! While our campus has been relatively quiet this week as several programs are taking some much-deserved time off, our clinics have remained open and virtual teaching and learning have continued. Today, I decided to dedicate today’s update to the importance of getting vaccinated.
THE RESPONSIBILITY TO GET VACCINATED: Last week I discussed the issue of vaccine hesitancy and how we all had the responsibility to ensure our friends and colleagues had the information they needed to make an informed decision about the importance of getting vaccinated against COVID-19. I also included links to scientific articles for you to reference. Today, I want to discuss your commitment to getting vaccinated.
This week I want to concentrate on why we all need to get vaccinated. While several larger institutions in our region and around the country have made the difficult decision of making the vaccine mandatory, we have currently chosen to rely on your professional judgement to get vaccinated. As you’ve heard me say frequently, as healthcare professionals, we gave an obligation to set the example for others by being vaccinated. Not only is it our responsibility, but being vaccinated also helps to ensure we are protecting the health and safely of those we care for and work closely with.
To help incentivize everyone, you must be vaccinated in order to participate in university-sponsored travel or extracurricular gatherings and events and to use the fitness center. As your individual programs have previously communicated, most clinical sites will require you to be vaccinated prior to your rotations. Please don’t put your academic futures at risk by not meeting that requirement. To be clear - unless someone has a valid medical or religious reason not to be vaccinated, it is my expectation that everyone on this campus gets vaccinated.
We have a solemn responsibility to our patients, clients, colleagues and others we work, as well as our family and loved ones, to ensure we do everything we can to help keep them healthy and safe and avoid spreading the virus. Vaccines are plentiful now, so if you haven’t been vaccinated, please take the time this weekend to find a site where you can get your jab. It’s the right thing to do – and the only way we’re going to minimize the spread of variants, end this pandemic and get back to normal. For those of you already vaccinated, thank you!
Once you are vaccinated, please fill out the Salus Vaccine Survey here so we know how many of us have received their vaccine.
Have a good weekend. Be safe, continue to wear your face mask, socially distance and wash your hands frequently. Don’t forget to apply the “2 out of 3 rule” for outside activities:
- Outdoors + Distanced = No Mask Needed
- Outdoors + No Distance = Mask Needed
- Not Outdoors + Distanced = Mask Needed
Do the right thing and stay SALUS STRONG!
Mike
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