In consideration of the COVID-19 delta variant’s aggressive spread and potential to overwhelm hospitals and healthcare systems, AIHA, the association for scientists and professionals committed to preserving and ensuring occupational and environmental health and safety (OEHS) in the workplace and community, has issued a statement in support of vaccination as a key control strategy against COVID-19. As proper precautions must be taken to reduce transmission, hospitalizations, and death across the country, AIHA voices its support for employers who find innovative ways to encourage vaccination among workers or develop workable programs to mandate vaccination in the workforce where warranted.

“The shortest path to ending the COVID-19 pandemic is through widespread, rapid vaccination,” said John Mulhausen, CIH, the president of AIHA.

AIHA has joined other organizations, representing the nation’s infection preventionists, epidemiologists, and infectious disease physicians and pharmacists, in calling upon state governors across the U.S. to set aside ideological differences and support important public health guidance that will save the lives of thousands of Americans during the current stage of the pandemic. Examples of such guidance include AIHA’s Back to Work Safely Guidelines, first released in 2020 to assist employers in implementing practical workplace COVID-19 controls.

The second editions of AIHA’s Back to Work Safely Guidelines are now available online for use by small to mid-size businesses in 27 industry sectors. The free guidance documents, currently available in English with Spanish-language editions coming this fall, provide clear and actionable steps towards safe operations through prevention, early detection, and control of COVID-19. As cases once again surge, AIHA urges employers to follow every available precaution to protect the health and safety of their workers.

About AIHA

AIHA is the association for scientists and professionals committed to preserving and ensuring occupational and environmental health and safety in the workplace and community. Founded in 1939, we support our members with our expertise, networks, comprehensive education programs, and other products and services that help them maintain the highest professional and competency standards. More than half of AIHA's nearly 8,500 members are Certified Industrial Hygienists and many hold other professional designations. AIHA serves as a resource for those employed across the public and private sectors as well as to the communities in which they work. For more information, please visit www.aiha.org.

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