ALL Washington State HCPs received this yesterday:

-- Forwarded message -—-

From: WA Department of Health <waDOH@public.govdelivery.com>

Date: Fri, Jul 16, 2021, 7:31 PM

Subject: Power of Providers Initiative

To: <>

Earlier today, Governor Inslee and Secretary Shah announced the Power of Providers Initiative, encouraging all health care providers to talk to their patients/clients about COVID-19 vaccination. We are attaching a letter from Secretary Shah and various state associations which talks about the initiative and encourages providers to participate. Thank you.

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July 16, 2021

Dear Health Care Providers:

Since the beginning of last year, the COVID-19 pandemic has tested all of us personally and professionally. As we work together to combat this pandemic, we have immense gratitude for health care providers across the state who have worked to educate and vaccinate as many patients as they could. Like you, we are committed to our patients and community to elevate people’s overall health and wellbeing and protect as many people against COVID-19 as possible.

In just over six months, working together, we have fully protected more than half of our state’s population from COVID-19, leading Washington to be one of the top states for vaccinations. That is incredible, and we appreciate all of your contributions and helping our state be Washington Ready by June 30. Yet while we have saved many lives, as you know, our work is far from over.

More than three million Washingtonians, both adults and children, are still not protected by these lifesaving vaccines and we want to see more people vaccinated and ultimately protected. The last few miles of our journey to vaccinate as many people as quickly and equitably as possible will likely look different, and again we are asking for your help as a trusted source of health advice and counsel as we go forward.

Please Make the Commitment

Today, we are asking you—as fellow health care providers—to please take the Power of Providers community vaccination commitment. This means you agree to do four simple steps with each of your patients to help SAVE lives:

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SEEK. Proactively reach out to your patients (or clients) to find out if they have received COVID-19 vaccination and invite them to do so, if they have not. This may be verbally or by checking their immunization records.

ASK/EDUCATE. Ask your patients at every visit if they are vaccinated or check their immunization records. If your patient is not vaccinated, provide information and education on the COVID-19 vaccine, recommend it, and offer it. To help, we have materials to assist with talking to your patients about COVID-19 vaccine at www.doh.wa.gov/Covid19VaccineProvider.

VACCINATE. If your patients agree, vaccinate your patients right then or give them a referral to a COVID-19 vaccine location using vaccinelocator.doh.wa.gov or by calling 833-VAX-HELP.

EMPOWER. Empower your patients to share their vaccination status with friends, family, and others. Order free stickers and buttons from the Department of Health that you can give to your patients. And empower your staff to be persistent in continually talking about the importance of vaccines and sharing that they have been vaccinated, too!

Become a Power of Providers partner today by filling out the form here.

Once you commit, we will send you a certificate to display in your office, helpful social media messaging and graphics you can use. If you want to help in the fight against this pandemic but do not know how, this commitment is for you! Please note that though this initiative is aimed at health care providers, you do not have to be a COVID-19 vaccine provider to make this commitment.

Support vaccine equity

Whether you commit or not, remember “don’t hesitate, vaccinate.” This applies whether you offer vaccines to your patients or give them a referral! We also ask you to continue to support our efforts to ensure equitable access to the COVID-19 vaccine across Washington:

Reach out to eligible patients, especially those from communities who have been highly impacted by COVID-19. Use our community-specific resources for outreach and engagement.

Meet people where they are with the goal of “vaccines going to people, not people going to vaccines.”

Partner with local, trusted community organizations and groups and your local health department to coordinate vaccination events, or request a Department of Health Care-a-Van visit. Use our Equitable Vaccine Site Placement Planning Tool.

Find more information on how to have a pro-equity vaccine practice here.

Gratitude

In closing, we want to thank you for all the work you do each and every day for the health of people in Washington, especially as it relates to fighting against COVID-19. Please join us in continuing this work and helping our state vaccinate as many Washingtonians as quickly and equitably as possible.

Remember, we are in this together – thank you!

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Look at the sigs. There is no reason to consider WA state as anomalous in this sort of communication and pressure on HCPs to genetically modify all