Eastern Shore Rural Health will require all employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19

In response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and recent rise in cases on the Eastern  Shore of Virginia due to the Delta variant, Eastern Shore Rural Health System, Inc. is  requiring all employees to be vaccinated against COVID.  

Employees are to receive at least the first dose of a mRNA vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna)  by Oct. 1, 2021, and to have an appropriately scheduled appointment to receive their  second dose, unless an exception is granted for medical or religious reasons.  

“Vaccination is our most important tool in protecting the health and safety of our  organization, our patients and our community,” said Rural Health Chief Medical Officer  Dr. Joan Lingen. Dr. Lingen, who joined Rural Health in 2006, recently assumed the  CMO role.  

A fully approved vaccine is now available to Rural Health employees. On Aug. 23, the  U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fully approved the Pfizer vaccine for  individuals 16 years of age and older. The Pfizer vaccine continues to be available  under FDA emergency use authorization for people 12 through 15 years of age and for  third doses in certain immunocompromised individuals. The Moderna vaccine is  available to individuals age 18 and older through FDA emergency use authorization.  

Numerous national and Virginia medical associations are supporting vaccine  requirements for all health care workers including these Virginia groups listed in a joint  statement issued July 21: Medical Society of Virginia, the Virginia Association of Clinical  Nurse Specialists, the Virginia Association of Community-Based Providers, the Virginia  Association of Community Services Boards Inc., the Virginia Association of Free and  Charitable Clinics, the Virginia Association for Hospices and Palliative Care, the Virginia 

Association of School Nurses, the Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of  Pediatrics, the Virginia Chapter of the American College of Surgeons, the Virginia  Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, the Virginia College of  Emergency Physicians, the Virginia Community Healthcare Association, the Virginia  Council of Nurse Practitioners, the Virginia Counselors Association, the Virginia  Dermatology Society, the Virginia Health Care Foundation, the Virginia Hospital &  Healthcare Association, the Virginia Network of Private Providers Inc., the Virginia  Nurses Association, the Virginia Orthopaedic Society, the Virginia Pharmacists  Association, the Virginia Podiatric Medical Association, the Virginia Radiological  Society, the Virginia Rural Health Association, the Virginia Section of the American  Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Virginia Society of Anesthesiologists,  and the Virginia Society of Rheumatology. 

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