Join People's CDC and healthcare workers across the country in pledging to keep our patients safe -- and pushing our healthcare employers to take the bold action necessary to secure patient and healthcare worker's well-being.

The last few months have seen massive attacks on the public health sector, including gutting of research staff, vital programs, and public services from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Health and Human Services (HHS), as well as threats to vaccine access of all types.

New NIH funding guidelines, released on April 21, 2025, require that recipients of federal funds must certify that they do not not operate any programs which advance or promote diversity, equity, inclusion or accessibility, and that they do not engage in boycotts of Israel or companies doing business in Israel. The U. S. government COVID.gov website has been replaced with an unsupported allegation that COVID was leaked from a lab in China.

Meanwhile, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) threatens to expand deportation, including within hospital systems, with NYU’s Langone Hospital admitting immigrants will not be safe from deportation within their gates. And legislation and policies banning mask-wearing are being pushed across the country, infringing on our civil rights, autonomy, health and safety. But there's much we can do: a new journal article in Journal of American Medicine Association (JAMA) Network Open shows that small decisions taken by hospitals can have an important impact on patient safety and wellbeing, reducing hospital-acquired illness from COVID.

Amid these dramatic changes, our healthcare employers have a strong role to play in keeping patients safe, from defending research and conditions of care that ensure all can have access to medicine, from anti-immigrant attacks and infectious disease alike. By taking a stance for human rights and patient wellbeing, healthcare workers can have an important role in securing ongoing access to vital research funding, safe patient care, and protecting immigrant patients.

Add your name and join us in pledging to take action to #ProtectOurPatients.

Pledge to Protect our Patients

1. Hospitals should be Sanctuaries. All our patients come to healthcare institutions to heal, and hospitals must be safe for everyone. I pledge to keep my patients' immigration information confidential, and to work with my coworkers to call upon our healthcare institution to provide sanctuary to immigrants and others targeted by governmental entities.

2. Vaccine Access for all. Vaccine access is also under attack, from R&D funding cuts to uninterrupted disinformation campaigns. I pledge to stay vaccinated with the most up-to-date vaccines and to encourage my patients to do the same. I pledge to listen to my patients' reasons for hesitancy around vaccination and to do my best to dispel misinformation.

3. Masks Save Lives. A 2024 JAMA Network Open Study (Pak et al 2024) demonstrated that mask-requirements and COVID testing upon admission mitigated airborne hospital-onset viral infections by 33 percent. The researchers note that, "Nosocomial respiratory viral infections are associated with increase lengths of stay and higher mortality in hospitalized patients." Meanwhile, mask bans are being pushed by the extreme right and some Democratic politicians seeking to restrict people's rights to wear masks on campus, on transit, and in public spaces, infringing on bodily autonomy, religious freedoms, and people's health, and effectively barring many disabled people and others from public life. I pledge to wear a well-fitting mask at work to keep my patients, coworkers, and myself safer. I will call on my healthcare institution to use masks and COVID admission testing year-round to protect our patients. I will call on my healthcare institution and politicians to oppose mask bans in all forms.  

4. Fund Care not Billionaires. No one should be turned away from healthcare and public services for lack of insurance or funds. I will share this pledge with my co-workers. I will call on electeds and join community actions to save and to expand vital public health entities including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), other research funding, Medicare and Medicaid, Social Security, and Telehealth Access to name a few.