Large percentages of health workers in several countries said they would not take the COVID-19 vaccine.
The New York Post reported Friday that health care providers in California, New York, Ohio and Texas are refusing to take the vaccine in large numbers. The workers cite the skepticism that the vaccine will work without side effects, given how quickly it has been developed and approved.
“Earlier this week, the Ohio government, Mike DeWine, revealed that about 60 percent of the nursing home workers in his state have so far chosen not to be vaccinated,” the Post reported. “The post reported last month that more than half of New York City’s EMS employees were skeptical.”
In California, surveys of health workers at various hospitals also indicated that they did not want to take the vaccine, even though those in the industry are one of the first to receive it. The Los Angeles Times reported that about 50% of the workers in the St. Elizabeth Community Hospital in Tehama County refused to take the vaccine even though it was offered. About 20% of workers at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills have also declined, the office reported.
“About 20% to 40% of the LA County front-line workers who were offered the vaccine did the same, according to county public health officials,” the Times reported. “So many frontline workers in Riverside County have refused the vaccine – an estimated 50% – that hospitals and public officials have met to find the best way to distribute the unused doses,” said Kim Saruwatari, director of public health.
The outlet stood for the “safety and efficacy” of the vaccines, supported by scientific evidence. One hospital worker at Providence Holy Cross said she would not take the vaccine because she was not sure how it would affect her since she was six months pregnant. She said other workers were taking the vaccine because they had not caught it so far, although they were at the forefront and felt they could survive it.
“I feel people are thinking, ‘I can still make it until it ends without getting the vaccine,'” she told the Times.
In Texas, a doctor at the Houston Memorial Medical Center told NPR that at least half of the nurses in the hospital refuse the vaccine.
The Times reported that some of the vaccine fears were reported in a recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, which found that 29% of health care professionals are at least reluctant to get vaccinated:
“Even the name, Operation Warp Speed, is causing people concern about the rush to push it through,” said Dr. Medell Briggs-Malonson, a physician at UCLA Health who received the vaccine, said. Yet she encouraged her colleagues to do the same.
“It’s definitely disappointing,” said Sal Rosselli, president of the National Union of Healthcare Workers. “But it’s not shocking, given what the federal government has been doing for the past ten months. … Trust science. It’s about science, and reality, and what’s right. ”
The consequences are potentially dire: if too few people are vaccinated, the pandemic will stretch indefinitely, leading to future boom, excessive strain on the healthcare system and ongoing economic downturn.
“Our ability as a society to return to a higher level of functioning depends on protecting as many people as possible,” said Harvard epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch.
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