STANDING WITH SCIENCE: Vaccine Awareness – An Open Letter from California Life Sciences President & CEO
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At California Life Sciences (CLS), our mission is underscored by our belief in and trust of verifiable science. In doing so, we provide space and information for people to step into their own power, and for the life sciences community to rise to the task of solving some of the world’s greatest challenges. And right now, there is a challenge we all share—ending the coronavirus pandemic.
Regardless of our race, economic status, or geography, we have all suffered, experienced loss, grown weary, and shown resilience over these difficult months. And through the tireless work of many of our member companies who develop diagnostics, therapeutics, testing tools, patient-monitoring systems, personal protective equipment, and now COVID-19 vaccines, we have a solution.
But our collective challenge persists because not enough Americans, that are able to do so, have chosen to be vaccinated. It has, therefore, become necessary for national, state, and local leaders to act. We both applaud and join them in these efforts.
President Biden is moving to require millions more Americans to get vaccinated, including a recent executive order that would affect more than 150,000 workers across multiple federal agencies in California. Several California Life Sciences member companies are already implementing vaccine requirements for their employees.
We stand with our leaders and our members who are trusting science and making safety and public health a priority.
We can, and must, do better. It is never an easy decision for employers to require certain actions by their employees, but in this case, the public good requires it of all of us that can get vaccinated.
The COVID-19 vaccines are safe. They have undergone the most intensive safety monitoring in the history of our country.
The economic and societal impacts of this COVID-19 pandemic will be tallied long into the future, but our ability to resume some semblance of normal will very simply require us to end this virus’s ability to take its toll. There is nothing more effective or scientifically proven in this regard than to vaccinate ourselves against it.
California Life Sciences will be requiring all of our employees to be vaccinated by early December and we are urging our member companies and organizations to do the same.
Together, we can end this pandemic by trusting in science and asking individuals to show solidarity with the common good. Inoculation, where possible, is the healthiest solution to our shared challenge.
Mike Guerra
President & CEO
California Life Sciences
califesciences.org