AACOM Strongly Encourages COVID-19 Vaccination

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

AACOM calls on the osteopathic community, and individuals everywhere, to get vaccinated

(Bethesda, MD) – In response to the alarming, nationwide surge of COVID-19 cases and the troubling rise of hospitalizations, especially among unvaccinated individuals, the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) strongly encourages every eligible member of the American public, including members of the osteopathic medical education community, to promptly receive the COVID-19 vaccine and take all additional precautions necessary to protect themselves and their community.

As an association of medical educators, students and residents, we are greatly concerned about the virality of COVID-19 misinformation and stand in strong opposition to those who propagate these risky and irresponsible falsehoods. Osteopathic medicine teaches that science and research combined with empathy and attention to body, mind and spirit are critical to keeping people healthy and safe. As physicians and medical educators, we believe in the power of that science, which has created vaccines to protect the public from deadly diseases like smallpox, meningitis, polio, measles and many others for more than 200 years. Here are the facts:

• The COVID-19 vaccine is safe, effective and widely available at no expense to the recipient.
• The COVID-19 vaccine is the culmination of twenty years of research that started after the 2003 SARs outbreak.
• The Delta variant is much more transmissible than earlier variants and vaccination remains our best chance at preventing the spread of COVID-19 and restoring health to our society.

For more than a year, healthcare workers across the country have been on the front lines of this pandemic, putting themselves and their families at great risk.  Some have lost their own lives. Many have struggled with physical and/or emotional exhaustion, highlighting the growing issue of healthcare workers burning out.  And just as they – and the rest of us – were starting to take a breath, they are now being called back into action as cases, hospitalizations – and deaths - rise.  Getting vaccinated is the easiest and most effective way to show support for their efforts; while at the same time protecting family and friends, especially those who are not yet able to receive the vaccine.

The fact is people who are not vaccinated are at the highest risk of severe disease, hospitalization and death.  We urge everyone, especially our own colleagues, students, friends and families, not to wait until it is too late. We have the chance to honor the more than 600,000 individuals in the United States who have already lost their lives to COVID-19 before a vaccine was readily available. It was too late for them, but it is not too late for us. 

About AACOM

The American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) leads and advocates for the full continuum of osteopathic medical education to improve the health of the public. Founded in 1898 to support and assist the nation's osteopathic medical schools, AACOM represents all 37 colleges of osteopathic medicine—educating nearly 31,000 future physicians, 25 percent of all US medical students—at 58 teaching locations in 33 US states, as well as osteopathic graduate medical education professionals and trainees at US medical centers, hospitals, clinics and health systems.

Contacts

Joseph Shapiro
AACOM Director of Media Relations
(240) 938-0746
jshapiro@aacom.org

Christine DeCarlo
AACOM Media and Public Affairs Manager
(202) 603-1026
cdecarlo@aacom.org