Supporting Vaccination to Protect People, Families, and Communities from COVID-19
Adopted at the 89th Annual Meeting in 2021
WHEREAS, widespread vaccination will accelerate and protect the safe return to in-person school, work, routine healthcare, eating in restaurants, and people's ability to safely gather and participate in group activities; and
WHEREAS, multiple strains of COVID-19 continue to circulate in the U.S. and additional variants are emerging; and
WHEREAS, after COVID-19 case rates and hospitalizations declined in the Spring of 2021, cases, severe illness, and hospitalizations have increased since then; and
WHEREAS, medical experts and hospital leaders in many communities are warning that increasing numbers of people with severe COVID-19 illness are filling hospitals with some hospitals at or nearing full capacity; and
WHEREAS, children and youth are vulnerable to new COVID-19 variants, and some youth who contract COVID-19 are receiving treatment with ventilators; and
WHEREAS, over 345 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccines with emergency use authorization in the U.S. have been administered and demonstrated to be both safe and effective; and
WHEREAS, 96% of U.S. physicians have gotten vaccinated; and
WHEREAS, more people in the U.S. must be fully vaccinated to protect communities and the nation from further spread of COVID-19 variants and their resulting harms; and
WHEREAS, there are wide variations in county vaccination rates from less than ten percent to over 80 percent; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors urges Americans to get fully vaccinated for COVID-19 at their earliest opportunity; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors as a bipartisan organization encourages all cities to carry out initiatives that support the vaccination of at least 70 percent of people who are eligible to be vaccinated.