To the Leadership of Tristar HCA hospitals,

We physicians and healthcare workers ask you to mandate COVID vaccination for your employees. Other health systems in the Tennessee area, including Ascension/St Thomas, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and Meharry Medical College, are doing so at this time. Requiring COVID-19 vaccination for all your employees demonstrates that you are prioritizing the health and safety of not only your employees but patients as well. Such a decision is difficult and controversial. Nevertheless, this step will undoubtedly help prevent new infections within and outside of the workplace and will save lives. Taking this step to require vaccines is proof to the community of the leadership of Tristar HCA in the field of medicine.

As physicians working in the COVID ICUs, Emergency Departments, wards, and clinics, we have witnessed innumerable tragedies these past 18 months due to COVID-19. We have been scared for our own health and our families’ health, we have mourned the loss of life, we have held hands and Ipads and done our best to comfort from afar. There is no doubt now that the vaccines are safe and that they are effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID-19. They are our best hope for an end to this pandemic. It is the responsibility of the medical community to promote vaccination. To the leadership of Tristar HCA, please take this step to help protect our community and patients. Please require vaccination for Tristar HCA employees.

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