The desperately awaited vaccination against the coronavirus in the US is facing resistance from an unlikely quarter: Surprising numbers of health workers who have seen the death and misery of COVID-19 refuse shots.
This happens in nursing homes and, to a lesser extent, in hospitals, with employees who, according to experts, have unfounded fears of side effects from vaccines developed at record speed. More than three weeks after the campaign, 80% of the staff are holding back.
“I do not think anyone wants to be a guinea pig,” said Dr. Stephen Noble, a 42-year-old cardiothoracic surgeon in Portland, Oregon, said that postponing the vaccination. ‘At the end of the day, as a scientist, I just want to see what the data shows. And give me the complete details. ”
Concerned about the phenomenon, some drivers hung everything from free breakfasts at Waffle House to a raffle for a car to get employees rolling up. Some states have threatened to have other people cut in front of health workers in line for shots.
“It’s way too low. It is alarmingly low, ”said Neil Pruitt, CEO of PruittHealth, which manages about 100 long-term care homes in the South, where less than 3 out of 10 workers have offered the vaccine so far.
Many medical facilities from Florida to the state of Washington boast of the fact that the shots are almost universally accepted, and workers proudly posted photos of themselves on social media receiving the vaccine. Elsewhere, however, the ride stumbled.
While the federal government did not release any data on how many people offered the vaccines, there has been a look at resistance in the country.
In Illinois, a large gap in state-run veterans’ homes has opened up between residents and staff. The difference was worst at the veterans’ home in Manteno, where 90% of residents were vaccinated, but only 18% of staff.
In rural Ashland, Alabama, about 90 of the 200 workers at Clay County Hospital have not yet agreed to be vaccinated, even though the place is so overcrowded with COVID-19 patients that oxygen is running low and beds added to the guard unit. , divided by plastic plates.
The setback comes amid the deadliest phase of the outbreak to date, with the death toll at more than 350,000, and it could inoculate the government’s attempt to vaccinate somewhere between 70% and 85% of the U.S. population to achieve ‘immunity’, hinder.
Public health administrators and officials have expressed hope that more health workers would prefer to be vaccinated as they see their colleagues taking the problems without difficulty.
Oregon doctor Noble said he would wait until April or May to get the shots. He said it was vital for public health authorities not to say too much about the vaccines. This is particularly important, he said, for black people like him who are distrustful of medical guidance from the government due to past failures and abuses, such as the infamous Tuskegee experiment.
Medical journals have published extensive data on the vaccines, and the Food and Drug Administration has released its analysis. But misinformation about the shots has spread wildly online, including lies that it is causing fertility problems.
Stormy Tatom, 30, a hospital nurse in Beaumont, Texas, said she tentatively decided to be vaccinated “because of the unknown long-term side effects.”
“I would say that at least half of my co-workers feel the same way,” Tatom said.
There are no signs of widespread serious side effects from the vaccines, and scientists say the drug has been carefully tested on tens of thousands and examined by independent experts.
States began to increase the pressure. South Carolina’s governor gave health workers until January 15 to get a chance or to ‘move to the back of the queue’. Georgia’s top health official has allowed some vaccines to be diverted to other frontline workers, including firefighters and police, out of frustration over the slow admission.
“There is vaccine available, but it literally sits in freezers,” said Dr. Kathleen Toomey, commissioner for public health, said. “It’s unacceptable. We have lives to save. ”
Nursing homes were among the institutions that preferred the shots because the virus cut through them to an awful degree. Residents and staff for long-term care are responsible for approximately 38% of COVID-19 deaths in the country.
In West Virginia, only about 55% of nursing home workers agreed to the shots when they were first offered last month, according to Martin Wright, who heads the West Virginia Health Care Association.
“It’s a race against social media,” Wright said as he fought fakes over the vaccines.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said only 40 percent of the state’s nursing home workers were shot. North Carolina’s top public health official estimates that more than half refuse the vaccine there.
SavaSeniorCare offered cash to the 169 long-term care homes in its 20-state network to pay for gift cards, socially removed parties or other incentives. But so far, data from about a third of his homes show that 55% of workers have refused the vaccine.
CVS and Walgreens, which were contracted by a majority of U.S. nursing homes to administer COVID-19 vaccinations, did not disclose details of the acceptance rate. CVS said residents agreed to be immunized at an “encouragingly high” rate, but that the “initial survey among staff is low”, in part due to attempts to falter when employees receive their shots.
Some facilities have vaccinated workers in phases so that staff are not eliminated at the same time if they have mild side effects, which can include fever and pain.
The hesitation is not surprising, given the mixed message from political leaders and misinformation online, dr. Wilbur Chen, a professor at the University of Maryland who specializes in the science of vaccinations, said.
He noted that health workers represent a wide range of jobs and backgrounds and said that they are not necessarily more informed than the general public.
“They also do not know what to believe,” Chen said. But he said he expected the hesitation to subside as more people were vaccinated and public health officials conveyed their message.
Some places have already seen revolutions, such as Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
“The biggest thing that helped us gain confidence in our staff was to watch other staff members get vaccinated, be OK, walk out of the room, you know, not a third ear grows, and it’s really like an avalanche, “he said. Dr. Catherine O’Neal, Chief Medical Officer. “The first few hundred that we created another 300 who wanted the vaccine.”
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Associated Press writers Jake Bleiberg in Dallas contributed to this report; Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; Janet McConnaughey in New Orleans; Candice Choi in New York; Kelli Kennedy in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Alabama; Brian Witte in Annapolis, Maryland; Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; Melinda Deslatte in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Bryan Anderson in Raleigh, North Carolina.