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Faced with mounting evidence of the threat posed by the COVID-19 delta variant, and reviewing feedback from thousands of team members, VCU Health has decided to require COVID-19 vaccination for all VCU Health System team members and contractors, with few exceptions.

The decision aligns the university and its health system with Governor Northam’s decision to require state employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. It is also consistent with the recent actions of other academic health systems nationwide, and a growing number of health care systems in the commonwealth.

Requiring the vaccine will protect patients, many of whom are elderly or have health conditions that make them particularly vulnerable to the effects of the virus.

The decision also ensures the safety and the welfare of team members and their families. Getting vaccinated will sharply reduce their risk of getting infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, and it will nearly eliminate their risk of getting severely ill or dying from the disease.

In Virginia, predictive models indicate that if we don’t act quickly we could find ourselves back in the dark days of January and February 2021. That’s not something we want to go through again.