Friends of Momentum,
With the introduction of the Delta variant, COVID-19 cases are rising exponentially in Shelby County, continuing to put our most vulnerable at risk. As I write this, the weekly positivity rate in Shelby County is at a pandemic high of over 21%. There are more people in hospitals with COVID-19 locally than at any point during the pandemic. Ninety-seven percent of ICU beds are filled. In response to this national crisis, President Biden, the CDC, the American Public Health Association, the American Medical Association, Mayor Harris, and the Shelby County Health Department have all recommended vaccine mandates for businesses, including nonprofits.
No nonprofit organization can fulfill their mission—no matter what that mission is—if their staff and constituencies are in danger. Many of our nonprofit organizations serve vulnerable individuals, and we ourselves are often vulnerable as well. To put our staff or any stakeholder at risk would be in opposition to our mission of “building the momentum of the nonprofit sector to create equitable, measurable, and lasting change.” With great concern for the safety of our community, Momentum Nonprofit Partners has implemented a vaccination mandate for our staff, effective immediately. We made this important decision after a great deal of research, discussion, and deliberation. We stand with the growing number of experts and institutions that support the requirement for universal vaccination of employees. While we recognize some workers cannot be vaccinated because of identified medical reasons and should be exempted from a mandate, they constitute a small minority of all workers. At Momentum, we will consider any requests for medical exemption on a case-by-case basis.
The data is clear: vaccinations work. Over 95% of people hospitalized with COVID are unvaccinated, and the mortality rate of breakthrough cases is extremely low. Vaccination is the primary way to put the pandemic behind us and avoid returning to stringent public health measures or further setbacks to economic recovery. The wealth of public health data supporting the efficacy of vaccines, plus the announcement last week of full FDA approval of the Pfizer vaccine for those 16 and older, informed our decision for a vaccine mandate as a next logical step. We recognize that there will be breakthrough cases with any virus and vaccine, but the primary role of the vaccine is to mitigate the acuity of illness and hopefully prevent hospitalizations, serious complications, and death. The vaccine has proven to be successful in mitigating serious complications.
Though we have implemented this new mandate, we acknowledge those whose hesitancy regarding vaccinations are rooted in a legacy of race-based experimentation, questions about the emergency use authorization of vaccines, and other anxieties. This mandate is by no means a denial of the cruel and tragic history in our nation nor an invalidation of those feelings. We are acting on the firm foundation of our commitment to the health of our colleagues, member organizations, and community. Our decisions are and always will be guided by firm local and national data.
The board and staff of Momentum Nonprofit Partner deeply care for our community. A healthy Memphis and Mid-South is necessary for a better future for all of us, especially those who have been marginalized or are vulnerable. Our staff and their families—some with compounding health issues that could be fatal due to the variant—are amazing and valuable assets to this community. We love them too much to not protect them.
Our vaccine mandate is part of an ongoing effort to protect the health and safety of our workforce and the member organizations we serve. We encourage you to discuss mandates, incentives, and other options in your own organization, as our nonprofit sector cannot remain neutral on this life-threatening issue.
Sincerely,
Kevin Dean
Chief Executive Officer
Momentum Nonprofit Partners
Kevin Dean, Ed.D.
Kevin is the Chief Executive Officer at Momentum Nonprofit Partners.