As your patients and members of the communities you serve, we ask that you follow Houston Methodist hospital system's lead and require all your employees who are medically eligible to be vaccinated with one of the FDA authorized COVID-19 vaccines.

We rely on your staff to provide the health care services we need to stay healthy. You are one of the largest health care providers in your area. In many cases because of participating provider lists, specialized services, or ongoing care relationships, we have no choice but to continue using your services.

We have done our part and gotten vaccinated if we are eligible, but even as vaccinated people, we are still at risk of contracting mild COVID-19 and potentially developing "long covid" as a result. Many of us have children who are too young to be vaccinated for a long time to come. Some of us or our family members have health conditions placing us at higher risk of severe COVID-19.

Studies have shown that vaccinated people are at lower risk of becoming infected with COVID-19. There is growing evidence that vaccinated people are at lower risk of transmitting COVID-19 if they become infected.

The vaccines are now available for free for all people in America age 16+. Over half of American adults have had at least one dose. Yet studies continue to show shockingly high rates of vaccine hesitancy among health care providers at all levels. And we have already seen examples in which care providers who declined vaccination later transmitted COVID-19 to patients resulting in patients' deaths. If you allow your staff to refuse all of the free, tested, safe COVID-19 vaccines, there is a higher risk they may spread COVID-19 to us inside or outside the care setting or to others in the community from whom we may contract COVID-19.

So long as vaccination is optional, we have no way to tell which professionals are vaccinated and which are not and no way to select one who is vaccinated to best protect ourselves, our families, and our children. The only way we can be sure we are as safe as possible when we seek care is if we know you are requiring all your employees who are medically eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

We've done the right thing and gotten vaccinated. Now we ask that you require your employees to do the right thing and get vaccinated too. Please act now!