key: cord-0930456-c5fxzepv
authors: Mallon, William J.
title: Editorial—We want you vaccinated
date: 2021-08-14
journal: J Shoulder Elbow Surg
DOI: 10.1016/j.jse.2021.08.002
sha: 31bde103f032abce02c98307e5b04940dbaa54b9
doc_id: 930456
cord_uid: c5fxzepv

nan

The American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons Society is taking a strong stance based on existing science supporting SARS-CoV-2 (Covid) vaccination and will require every attendee at the 2021 annual ASES meeting 1 dOctober 20-23, 2021 in Tampa, Floridadto be fully vaccinated (unless medically exempt).

As of August 5, 2021, more than 200 million cases of Covid have been reported worldwide, with over 35 million infections in the United States alone, and about 5 million in France and Germany. 6 Other nations have been hit even harder on a per capita basis. There have been more than 4 million deaths across the globe, 7 still others have struggled with severe infections requiring lengthy hospitalizations, some desperately dealing with debilitating aftereffects, known as ''long COVID syndrome.'' 5 The scientific and medical establishment went into overdrive early in the pandemic and by late 2020 produced several vaccines that were approved in the United States and other countries for experimental use authorization. Some of these vaccines used mRNA, 2,4 an innovative technology, as the carrier to induce immunity. This was an unprecedented accomplishment in mankind's long struggle against microbiologic invaders, and the lessons learned from this may produce many long-term benefits for medicine, science, and future patients.

The successes of the vaccination program are truly remarkableda recent article in Nature highlights what we have learned, with more than 1.7 billion doses provided in just 6 months, and underscores the efficacy of vaccination. 3 Despite the vaccination success, however, the pandemic lingers on. Multiple variants have appeared, some of which, notably the Delta variant, are more infectious than those with which we have been battling, especially for the unvaccinated. Although we understand that some people have been reluctant to be vaccinated, now more than ever, they need to be vaccinated. To be sure, those propagating fear of vaccinations regrettably have hindered our efforts to conquer COVID and continue to place citizens in the direct path of harm. This is the only way we are going to end this pandemic, short of acquired immunity from more infections and many more deaths, which is not acceptable. We wear a mask daily in our surgeries, but we're tired of wearing masks when going to the grocery store, or out to a restaurant, or anywhere. We're tired of social distancing, and we'd like to go to a movie, or a play, or a ballgame. We'd like to hug somebody again, or at least shake hands.

Let's end this thing. It has gone on too long. We can do itdget vaccinated.

ASES 2021 Annual Meeting

Understanding mRNA COVID-19 vaccines

Six months of COVID vaccines: what 1.7 billion doses have taught scientists

COVID-19 mRNA vaccines: How could anything developed this quickly be safe? Available at

Post-acute COVID-19 syndrome

Data. Statistics and Research: Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases. Available at

Data. Statistics and Research: Coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths. Available at