Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis on the Capitol Hill in Washington, USA, April 15, 2021.
Amr Alfiky | Reuters
Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the White House, said Monday it is “alarming” that some Americans will not take the Covid-19 vaccine for political reasons.
Fauci said those who refuse to be vaccinated against the virus are the same ones who say the US government is “encroaching on our freedoms” by asking Americans to wear masks and implement other pandemic security measures. He said the “easiest” way to get out of the pandemic is to get a vaccine.
“It’s almost paradoxical that they don’t want to be vaccinated,” Fauci said during an interview with “CBS This Morning.” “So that’s the thing we need to work on. We can’t be negative to them. We need to try to convince them why it’s so important to get where they want to be and where I want to be. And where all the public health officials want to be.” , would be to get vaccinated. “
Fauci’s comments come as President Joe Biden’s deadline arrived for states to expand their vaccination requirements. Biden asked states to open appointments for all American adults before Monday.
Even now that the vaccine is eligible, polls suggest a significant portion of Americans will refuse to take the photos, potentially helping that country’s recovery from the pandemic that killed at least 567,233 Americans in just over a year. delayed.
About 28% of Republicans said they will “definitely not” get Covid-19, and 18% said they “will wait and see” before they get a chance, according to a poll by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation that was launched in late February. released.
Anthony D. Dell’Aera, assistant professor of political science at Worcester State University, told CNBC in a recent interview that these Republicans, many of them supporters of former President Donald Trump, are often suspicious of the government and therefore likely the vaccines will refuse.
He said researchers saw similar vaccine resistance among Republicans during the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic.
“Republicans, and Trump supporters in particular, are most likely to have less faith in the government and vaccination pressures,” he said, adding that vaccine resistance “goes beyond” Trump himself. Trump has simply “tapped into this mistrust of the government and I think Trump has helped bring this prospect more publicly,” he added.
Fauci said the US has deployed thousands of clergy, athletes and other respected members of local communities to persuade people to get vaccinated.
“There will really be a full press to get people [vaccinated,] no matter who they are, ”he said.