Over 50 medical groups call for mandatory vaccinations for health care workers
26 July 2021
More than 50 medical groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association, called for U.S. health workers to be required to take the COVID-19 vaccine in a joint statement Monday,.
Why it matters: Mainstream groups representing millions of medical workers are taking a harder line on the issue of mandatory vaccines, as the pace of shots stalls and the Delta variant drives a national surge in coronavirus infections.
What they're saying: "We call for all health care and long-term care employers to require their employees to be vaccinated against covid-19,” the groups wrote. "The health and safety of U.S. workers, families, communities, and the nation depends on it.”
Between the lines: In a study of roughly 28,000 vaccinated health care workers in India — where the Delta variant caused some of the largest spikes of the entire pandemic — just 5% developed symptomatic infections after being vaccinated. Only 83 people had to be admitted to a hospital, and none died.
State of play: More than 161 million Americans, or 49.1% of the total population, are fully vaccinated, per data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- The CDC said last week that 97% of people currently hospitalized for the virus are unvaccinated. Officials have said that about 99% of people who die from the virus weren’t vaccinated.
- Less than 9% of hospitals have required employees to get vaccinated, according to the American Hospital Association, which announced last week it supports mandating vaccinations for health care workers.
Go deeper:COVID cases are up 55% across the U.S.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.