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To combat the COVID-19 delta variant’s deadly toll in communities nationwide, President Joe Biden on Sept. 9 announced a COVID-19 action plan that mandates vaccination, with no testing option, for Medicare- and Medicaid-participating hospitals and other health care settings.

California dentists and their staff are voicing two primary concerns related to the recent public health COVID-19 vaccination orders: (1) Why are individuals required to submit proof of vaccination if they can submit proof of COVID-19 antibodies, and (2) what is going on with COVID-19 booster shots? 

Dental-office staff in Los Angeles County and San Francisco will be required soon to show proof of vaccination to work in or enter those facilities following two new public health orders issued last week. 

CDA members are asking how the state’s reopening will apply to dental practices. Get answers to questions about physical distancing, patient screening, the use of face coverings and other requirements that will continue in health care settings after June 15.

As trusted health professionals, dentists are positioned daily to discuss COVID-19 vaccination with their patients and the public, instill confidence about the COVID-19 vaccine and ultimately influence their patients’ decision-making about the vaccine.  

Cal/OSHA's current regulations on COVID-19-related screening, testing and quarantining apply to dentists, dental team members and other health care workers in California who are fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus, as well as to fully vaccinated patients who enter health care settings.

After nearly a year of compliance with complicated, and sometimes uncomfortable, COVID-19 protocols, many dental professionals are exhausted. However, fatigue with wearing mandatory personal protective equipment doesn’t change the regulations or the potential for serious risks.

With several promising vaccines for the new coronavirus in various stages of testing, California is developing its own vaccination plan for the state’s population. CDA is asking the state to revise its distribution plan to standardize the list of essential health care workers for the purpose of phase-1 distribution and to include oral health care providers on that list.

California-licensed dentists can now order face mask “kits” that include boxes of N95 respirator masks and level-2 surgical masks from The Dentists Supply Company, a subsidiary of the California Dental Association.