CHOP President and CEO Madeline Bell Meets with President Biden to Discuss Vaccine Mandates

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On Wednesday, Sept. 15, CHOP President and CEO Madeline Bell joined business leaders from across the country to discuss the importance of vaccine mandates with President Joe Biden during a meeting at the White House.

In July, Bell made the decision to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for all of CHOP’s 22,000 employees. “The best way to protect children from COVID-19 is to ensure that all of the adults around them are vaccinated,” she said. “CHOP’s vaccine mandate will help us reach that goal more quickly.” 

During the meeting at the White House, Bell highlighted the fact that children’s hospitals are currently seeing very high numbers of children with respiratory viruses, COVID-19, and behavioral health issues such as anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation. The attendees discussed the impact the pandemic is having on children and the behavioral health challenges children are experiencing as a result of being isolated from their peers and being out of school. They also discussed how children are affected by their parents’ anxiety about the pandemic.  

Other attendees at the meeting included Brad Smith, President of Microsoft; Greg Adams, Chair and CEO of Kaiser Permanente; and Bob Chapek, CEO of The Walt Disney Company. 

Read the remarks President Biden delivered at the meeting.