AVEL Covid Protocols

Recently, an ad hoc committee of AVEL reunion planners met (via Zoom) to discuss the implications of the delta covid variant increases in infection rates and hospitalizations and what if any effect that may have on our reunion plans. Concerns about our general wellbeing seem amplified by our ages and exposures to Agent Orange especially for those veterans whose immune systems have been compromised by exposure.

We have unanimously decided therefore that The AVEL Reunion 2021 requests that all participants get fully vaccinated before the mid-October gathering while there is sufficient time to do so. If for any reason, including medical, religious, moral, political, or simply personal choice, anyone determines that they will not be fully vaccinated before October, we request that you not participate in the reunion this year. We will miss you; we will wish you well, and we hope to see you again next year in good health. If you registered but will not be attending, you will be given a full refund. If you have purchased airline travel, we trust that you have the option of coming to Virginia Beach on your own while avoiding the reunion or rescheduling your flight or using your charges as credit on an alternate flight. Our most significant hope is that if you are not yet vaccinated you will get the vaccine for your own benefit and to protect all the people in your life who are important to you. Please know that this has been a difficult decision but just as it was in Vietnam, our highest priority is to protect those to the right of us and those to the left knowing that when that happens, we are being protected by two others rather than everyone for themselves.