GREENWOOD VILLAGE, COLO. – Aug. 12, 2021 – Colorado’s health care workers and facilities are committed to caring for our communities, as evidenced by our ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The continued safety of our health care workforce remains a top priority, and COVID-19 vaccines are among the best tools we have to protect staff and patients in health care facilities across the state.

Today, the undersigned Colorado health care organizations urge support for the following steps to stop the spread of COVID-19:

• All health care employees should become vaccinated.
• Join us in expressing support for health care organizations that independently adopt policies requiring COVID-19 vaccination for employees and staff, with local factors determining whether, how, and when such policies are implemented.
• Individuals ages 2 and older should follow CDC guidelines[1] for mask wearing indoors, especially children returning to in-person learning this fall.

Science has shown that the vaccines are safe and effective at substantially reducing the risks of becoming infected, spreading the virus to others, and becoming severely ill or dying from the disease.

Masks remain one of the most effective tools at reducing the spread of COVID-19.

We are confident that the Colorado health care community will continue to lead by example in embracing and promoting the COVID-19 vaccines. The dramatic increase in variants of concern has added urgency to the already pressing need to achieve herd immunity for Coloradans. Vaccination is the primary way we will avoid overwhelming the health care system in our state and finally put the pandemic behind us.

Colorado’s health care workers have heroically cared for their communities throughout the pandemic, but we must all come together to protect the most vulnerable among us. Visit the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s website to find where you can get vaccinated today.

[1] https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated.html