Integrative Medicine Physicians Vaccine Concerns and a Call to Action
CONTACT: Dale West
269.264.9261
info@imconsortium.org
In an integrative medicine call to action, the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine & Health, urges every physician and healthcare provider with vaccine concerns to “join the profession’s shared goals for stopping the spread of this virus in our communities by helping your patients get vaccinated and promoting mask-wearing and social distancing.”
Last week, members of Congress who are physicians released a video urging their colleagues in healthcare to recommend COVID vaccination to their patients. Why this extraordinary outreach? Although more than half of all adults in the U.S. have received at least one vaccine dose against the virus, and the science behind vaccine testing and efficacy is showing powerful and positive impact across the U.S. and real promise for the “herd” immunity we seek, physicians have been identified among the population that is vaccine hesitant – including some who have taken their cautious concern an extra step by actively discouraging patients from being vaccinated.
The Academic Consortium, representing 76 of the world’s most prestigious academic medical centers and health systems, asks these healthcare providers to trust the scientific process for approving the vaccines and encourage their patients to be vaccinated, not only for their patients but for patient family members, friends and community during this pandemic. “The vaccines available to us, recommended by the CDC, are providing needed protection, bringing us closer to a time when we can live our lives without social restriction; it’s our professional obligation to public health and safety to support vaccination for all who are eligible,” says Francoise Adan, MD, Academic Consortium Board of Directors Chair.
Integrative Medicine is recognized for its focus on the whole person and the importance of the relationship between practitioner and patient. This field makes use of all evidence-based therapeutic and lifestyle care approaches, healthcare professionals and disciplines to achieve optimal health and healing. This relationship and attention to healthcare supported by science is especially important in building trust in the vaccines and getting vaccinated. Trust relies on truth. Here is what’s true:
The COVID vaccines currently approved for use were studied in clinical trials conducted with the same rigor applied to all vaccine trials with tens of thousands of participants. Results were viewed by multiple independent advisory panels, leading to the FDA’s emergency use authorization. The Academic Consortium encourages everyone to get vaccinated and to help family members and friends to get the same protection against the deadly COVID virus and its variants. “I tell my patients ‘no one is safe, until everyone is safe; get vaccinated for yourself and for those you love and for your community’,” says Dr. Adan.
HHS has launched a WE CAN DO THIS public education campaign with resources to increase vaccine confidence while reinforcing basic prevention measures.