Take the Pledge? Why I Promise to Get Vaccinated When Eligible

Earlier this week, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield announced the Better Together Community Organizational Pledge, a month-long campaign to empower community partners and businesses to "take the pledge" to do their part in educating their workforce on the importance of playing a role in leaving COVID-19 behind.

Simply stated - by taking the pledge, employers commit to encouraging and supporting their workforce to get the COVID-19 vaccine when able. As part of this commitment, on behalf of each company signing the pledge, CareFirst will donate $1,000 (up to $1 million) to support community partners' vaccination efforts.

How CareFirst is making a difference

Here is where I want to note the sheer gratitude and appreciation I feel as an associate of the organization facilitating support on more levels than I can count. Working for a healthcare organization directly feeds so many of my personal passions in general; however, working for an organization that is:

• Advocating and ensuring individuals can equitably have access to the care needed
• Enabling the spread of awareness on the vaccine to debunk myths or clarify misconceptions
• Motivating the masses to be a part of history, all to achieve herd immunity

This list, which could be much longer, takes the feeling of gratitude and appreciation and escalates things to a feeling of being honored to witness these efforts unfold as many teams within this organization work tirelessly to make an impact day in day out.

I promise to get the shot

As CareFirst associates were encouraged to take the pledge, I promised to get the shot when able because I get to, when over half a million people who have lost their lives can not say the same.

I say "I get to" from lessons learned during the Ulman Foundation's Point to Point run in 2019. The perspective of looking at our "have-to-do list" as our "get-to-do list."

I both have to register to get the vaccine when eligible, but I also get to get to; therefore, it is my promise to do so in the interest of getting to a place in which we can all find ourselves living within our "whys" paired along with why this shot is so important to many of us.

Why is this so important?

For me, and I can imagine so many others, it means:

• hugging my family members and friends, I love dearly
• not missing out on time with loved ones that are at the age or have health circumstances that don't give the promise of a lot of time to spend together
• maintaining the friendships I've been able to be present, but also reinvigorating relationships that may appear disconnected because this is just all too much to go through together, but yet so far apart
• witnessing children who can just play and live with the knowledge of health safety, but not allow it to define their education as virtual or in person, or create any more angst as they have had to endure enough
• celebrating so much that it is too much to list

As we continue to humanize so many aspects of this time in our lives, the half a million people I referenced at the start, jobs lost, health and social inequities, and so much more … this feeling of relentless hope so many of us have around reaching herd immunity requires every single person who made it to this point in my post to honor and accept their role in supporting the future we all want to find ourselves safely and equitably living within.

As referenced in the campaign - the best way for all of us to get better is to do it together, as immunity takes a community.

Will you and your organization take the pledge?

To sign the pledge, visit our Better Together Community Pledge page.

For more information on vaccine efficacy and safety, as well as the employer's role in achieving immunity, watch the recording of our latest panel discussion or visit the CareFirst Coronavirus Resource Center.