Cancer Guidelines Organization Supports Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination for Health Workers

National Comprehensive Cancer Network COVID-19 Vaccination Advisory Committee calls for workforce vaccine requirements to assure healthcare community is doing all it can to prevent exposure to COVID-19.

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National Comprehensive Cancer Network

Aug 19, 2021, 15:28 ET

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa., Aug. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Comprehensive Cancer Network^® (NCCN^®)—a nonprofit alliance of leading cancer centers across the United States—joins the growing call for mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for all eligible healthcare workers. The organization issued an official statement today at NCCN.org/covid-19 calling on all healthcare systems to ensure their workforces are immunized, which includes the following perspective:

"Patients with cancer are more susceptible to COVID-19 complications and may not mount effective immune responses to vaccination, so it is incumbent on healthcare workers to be immunized against COVID-19. In so doing, we help to create a cocoon effect in which vulnerable individuals are protected from COVID-19 by vaccinating those who care for these patients."

"Cancer care providers have a responsibility to their patients and colleagues to do everything they can to reduce the spread of COVID-19; that includes getting vaccinated," said Robert W. Carlson, MD, Chief Executive Officer, NCCN. "We know cancer patients already face a higher risk from COVID-19 and must be protected during their many interactions with healthcare workers. According to the science, vaccines are our best option to safely protect ourselves and the people around us from this potentially deadly disease."

NCCN's endorsement of mandatory vaccination for healthcare workers stems from the work of the NCCN COVID-19 Vaccination Advisory Committee, a group of leading physicians with expertise in infectious diseases, vaccine development and delivery, cancer management, and medical ethics. The committee has previously shared evidence-based expert consensus recommendations on vaccinating people with cancer against COVID-19. They regularly update this guidance—which is intended for clinicians and also available in a patient-friendly format.

"We're deeply committed to doing everything to protect our patients from COVID-19," said Brahm Segal, MD, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Co-Leader of the NCCN COVID-19 Vaccination Advisory Committee. "Our patients come to our centers for high quality and cutting-edge cancer care. We must insist they are protected as much as possible from COVID-19 during medical visits, and this requires that our workforce be immunized."

Read the entire statement at NCCN.org/vaccine-statement and visit NCCN.org/covid-19 for additional frequently-updated recommendations on cancer care during the pandemic.

About the National Comprehensive Cancer Network
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network^® (NCCN^®) is a not-for-profit alliance of leading cancer centers devoted to patient care, research, and education. NCCN is dedicated to improving and facilitating quality, effective, efficient, and accessible cancer care so patients can live better lives. The NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines^®) provide transparent, evidence-based, expert consensus recommendations for cancer treatment, prevention, and supportive services; they are the recognized standard for clinical direction and policy in cancer management and the most thorough and frequently-updated clinical practice guidelines available in any area of medicine. The NCCN Guidelines for Patients^® provide expert cancer treatment information to inform and empower patients and caregivers, through support from the NCCN Foundation^®. NCCN also advances continuing education, global initiatives, policy, and research collaboration and publication in oncology. Visit NCCN.org for more information and follow NCCN on Facebook @NCCNorg, Instagram @NCCNorg, and Twitter @NCCN.