ACC Goes Full Virtual for Annual Meeting

There won’t be an in-person component of the American College of Cardiology 2021 Scientific Session (ACC.21) after all, the college announced Monday.

The meeting, still scheduled for May 15 to 17, was being planned as a hybrid affair combining virtual offerings as well as sessions in Atlanta, GA. Planners had hoped that pushing the meeting to later in the spring would allow time for the pandemic to be brought under control and safe travel to resume.

“Unfortunately, with the continued presence of COVID-19 and a sudden, sharp increase in ongoing travel restrictions imposed by healthcare institutions, academic medical centers, and exhibitor companies, the decision has had to be made to transition the meeting from a hybrid model to entirely virtual,” Pamela Morris, MD (Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston), and Douglas Drachman, MD (Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston), ACC.21 chair and vice chair, respectively, said in a statement.

An alert sent to reporters additionally attributed “slow rollout and acceptance of the vaccine” as a contributing factor.

On a page of frequently asked questions, which will be updated as ACC.21 planning continues, the ACC says that all of its meetings through August 2021 are being planned as virtual events and that decisions about meetings in the fall and beyond will be made later.

Next year’s annual scientific session is scheduled to take place in Washington, DC, in early April 2022.