Over the past 18 months, COVID-19 has followed the unyielding, traditional slope of disproportionately imposing adverse health outcomes upon the most vulnerable U.S. populations. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of July 25, Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American citizens account for more than 44 percent of the roughly 28 million cases of infection in the United States. But these minorities account for only 37 percent of the entire population.
To protect all citizens from the extreme effects of COVID-19, the Association of Black Cardiologists (ABC) strongly encourages vaccination of all healthcare personnel and, all persons, especially members of the aforementioned groups. Currently, the ABC also supports masking indoors with additional use consideration for outdoors given the spread of the more infectious variants.
“This position is of utmost importance as our professional membership continues to diligently work to address and curb the impact of COVID-19 and its emerging variants on these high-risk populations,” the ABC statement reads. “Prevention is better than cure particularly given that even mild infection has the potential to result in longer-term cardiovascular and other ailments.”
The ABC echoes the sentiments of the American Medical Association and our notable colleagues in the following statement:
“We stand with the growing number of experts and institutions that support the requirement for universal vaccination of health workers. While we recognize some workers cannot be vaccinated because of identified medical reasons and should be exempted from a mandate, they constitute a small minority of all workers.”
“The ABC will remain vigilant and steadfast in its efforts to support healthcare professionals, community partners, patients and families as we, as a country, weather through this relentless syndemic together. In the same vein, we hope other industries will follow the example of the medical community and choose to employ policies that promote vaccination.”
