Southern California Medical Societies Support the COVID-19 Vaccination Effort December 15, 2020 #Docs4Vaccines, #MedicineForMasks, #VaccinesWork, COVID-19, Presidents Council, Public Health, Southern California Medical Societies, vaccination 1551 December 15, 2020 Muntu Davis, MD, MPH Health Officer County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health 313 N. Figueroa St Los Angeles, CA 90012 Dear Dr. Davis, As a follow up to our previous communication regarding our #MedicineForMasks campaign, we as a collaborative body of the Southern California medical societies are writing to offer our strongest possible support for the COVID-19 vaccination effort. We understand the daunting task before you, not only in coordinating vaccination logistics, but also in organizing public relations and galvanizing community responses. We would like to offer the assistance of the local county medical society, as an additional resource to amplify the science around the vaccine, educate the public, and communicate any relevant messages from your department. We believe that our direct connection with community and frontline providers would be useful in building confidence and support for county vaccination plans, with both the healthcare community and the public at large. Please know we are committed and eager to stand with you in these types of outreach, however you deem most effective or useful to your communication plans. We also believe that we can help you achieve community support and buy-in through our own commitment to lead by example, including our group’s agreement to launch our own public relations campaign, #VaccinesWork and #Docs4Vaccines, where we will share images and videos of ourselves and our colleagues eagerly receiving a COVID vaccine, to be shared across social and traditional media as well as through our membership networks and our respective physician employee associations. We wish to emphasize that we are here to support you and your efforts. We believe a strong, coordinated, clear message from the medical societies and the Department of Public Health will result in greater vaccination participation. We are so proud for the opportunity to work with you and your public health colleagues on this effort and others that directly impact the public health of our communities and have wide-ranging impacts on the health and economic future of our region and our state. On behalf of our nearly 20,000 physician members in the eight southern California counties of Kern, Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange County, Riverside, San Bernardino, Imperial, and San Diego, we thank you for your ongoing service to the community and your protection of the public’s health. Please let us know how we may best assist you. Sincerely, Diana Shiba, MD Founding Chair, Southern California Medical Society Presidents Council President, Los Angeles County Medical Association 1055 West 7th Street, Suite 2290 Los Angeles, CA 90017 (213) 683-9900 Theodore Affue, MD President, Imperial County Medical Society Jason Cord, MD President, Orange County Medical Association Bruce Holmblad, MD President, Riverside County Medical Association Chang Na, MD President, Kern County Medical Society Christopher Tsai, MD President, San Bernardino County Medical Society Prashant Verma, MD President, Ventura County Medical Association Holly Yang, MD Chair-Elect, Southern California Medical Society Presidents Council President, San Diego County Medical Society View Official Letter Here