Biden-world fears that many vaccine skeptics may be unreachable. They try anyway.

“I do not want to say in any way that I have the full confidence that 30 percent will change their minds,” National Health Institute Francis Collins said in an interview, “but I hope we somehow to start progressing, at least with some of the people, because, as you know, if we do not succeed in achieving this herd immunity of 70 to 85 percent, then the consequence will be that this pandemic continues. . ”

In consultation with health experts, the Biden government has identified three buckets of communities they need to vaccinate: those who were excited to get their shots, the “moving means” of people saying they want to wait and see, and those saying for the bearers that they will never get a vaccine.

For the last two buckets, the White House relies on local leaders and non-political activists to achieve this. The topic of debate is just how big the group has the resistances. But the White House concedes that a democratic government is not the best messenger for them or necessarily the mobile means.

‘We do not wear rose-tinted glasses when it comes to the challenge of trust or hesitation, but what you are not going to see is the leading role in the White House [outreach] attempts [to hardcore Republicans] here. It does not make sense. “Our goal is not to elevate ourselves, it is to get shots in the arms,” ​​said a White House official. “They do not want to be belittled. They want to hear the information. They want to hear the facts. ”

While the administration may recognize its own limitations as a messenger, it still tries. Collins, Anthony Fauci, Biden’s best Covid adviser, and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy were all guests on Fox News in an effort to reach the network’s conservative audience. The administration says it has aired TV commercials on Fox, NewsMax and Fox online.

A poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 29 percent of Republicans and 28 percent of white evangelists say they will never get a vaccine, and that almost no messages break through with them. But Collins, a self-described ‘serious Christian’ who has written books on religion and science, said he believes different tactics and messages are needed to reach white evangelists who may be inherently distrustful of any government program and will shy away from to be condescending.

“I think we’ve had too many cases of people saying, ‘Well, if you do not get this vaccine, you’re just stupid. ‘And it’s not useful and it’s not true. “You have to listen and hear what the concerns are, and then try to address them point by point,” Collins said.

The government’s task was further complicated last week after the Feds interrupted the Johnson and Johnson vaccine amid concerns that it was linked to the development of a very rare but serious blood clot. Since the announcement, the rate of vaccinations has begun to decline, as daily vaccinations have decreased by about 300,000 doses since April 13th.

The administration insists that the J&J news had no bearing on the hesitation and limited impact on access. Press Secretary Jen Psaki cites an increase in the number of people who said they were likely to get the vaccine compared to a month ago, arguing that public opinion has actually improved on the vaccine campaign.

“We have always been prepared. This does not mean that if it happens, [you’re like] “don’t you think you could have chosen a better day to do that?” ‘Anita Dunn, senior adviser to the president, told POLITICO. “From day one, as people have said, ‘Why do you buy so much vaccine? “It was with the full knowledge that things would happen along the way, and there has never been a 100 percent flexible program of this kind. ”

But on-site health experts tell POLITICO that they experienced the first hesitation firsthand, and that the J&J news fed into it. Dr. Reed Tuckson, co-founder of the Black Coalition Against Covid-19, said that since the transition, he has been meeting with Biden officials, gathering information, giving feedback and calling on staff to speak directly to the Black community. to convince them to get. the vaccine.

Tuckson says he has seen an increase in people in the past week who say they are worried or will not get the vaccine. “Some people who tend not to accept the vaccine will say, ‘I told you so.’ “On others, you get, ‘I’m just not sure right now … I think I want to wait to get more information,'” Tuckson said of his talks since the J&J News broke.

Tuckson added that he did not notice any nervousness from the government after last Tuesday. “There is no panic, but it is a sober and cautious assessment that it is going to be a challenge to save the country from the pandemic,” he said.

Although administrative officials may not be nervous, they become more aggressive and creative in throwing the vaccine at skeptical groups.

On Wednesday, Biden announced that the administration will support tax credits for businesses that offer paid leave for the appointment of Covid-19 vaccines and recover after the final dose to help alleviate access problems for some people.

Administration officials say they are still hopeful that over the long term, people will see the decision to discontinue the J&J vaccine as proof that the system worked. They continued to communicate with community groups to ensure that the message gets through and to emphasize that the choice is binary: let people be vaccinated or the pandemic continue.

‘If it happens a few months from now, the people who are in the hospital, get sick in the ICU and die, will be the ones who have not been vaccinated. And it will be pretty clear that this is the case, ‘said Dr. Collins said. ‘And I do not want it to be the wake-up call. We can do better than that. But it could be the downstream scenario if we do not give all the reasons why it is now time for action. ”

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