“I’m not in any way to say that I have total confidence that that 30 percent will change their minds,” said Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health in an interview, “but I really hope we have a way to make some progress, at least with some of those people, because, as you know, if we fail to achieve this 70 to 85 percent herd immunity … the result will be that this pandemic continues continue. “
In consultation with health experts, Biden’s administration has identified three buckets of communities it needs to get vaccinated: those who were excited to get their photos, the ‘movable middle’ of people who say they want to wait, and those who tell pollsters that they will never receive a vaccine.
For the last two buckets, the White House relies on local leaders and non-political validators to reach them. The size of a group of strong resistances is a topic of discussion. But the White House admits that a democratic government is not the best messenger for them, nor is necessarily the movable middle.
“We don’t wear rose-colored glasses when it comes to the challenge of confidence or hesitation, but what you’re not going to see is that the White House [outreach] efforts [to hardcore Republicans] here. That makes no sense. Our goal is not to take us to the next level, but to shoot with arms, ”said a White House official. ‘They don’t want to be belittled. They want to hear the information. They want to hear the facts. “
Although the administration recognizes its own limitations as a messenger, they are still trying. Collins, Biden’s best Covid adviser Anthony Fauci, 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 run TV ads online on Fox, NewsMax and Fox.
A Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 29 percent of Republicans and 28 percent of white evangelicals say they will never get a vaccine and there are almost no messages breaking through with them. But Collins, a self-proclaimed “serious Christian” who has written books on religion and science, said he believes different tactics and messages are needed to reach white evangelicals who are naturally suspicious of any government program and will shrink from to be condescending.
“I think we’ve had too many cases of people saying, ‘Well, if you don’t get this vaccine, you’re just stupid.’ And that doesn’t help, and it’s not true. You have to listen and hear what the concerns are, and then try to address them point by point, ”said Collins.
The government’s task was further complicated last week after the FBI halted the Johnson and Johnson vaccine over concerns that it was linked to the development of a very rare but serious blood clot. Since that announcement, the number of vaccinations has started to decline and daily vaccinations have dropped by about 300,000 doses since April 13.
The administration maintains that the J&J news has had no impact on the hesitation and limited impact on access. Press Secretary Jen Psaki cited an increase in the number of respondents who said they were likely to receive the vaccine compared to a month ago to claim that public opinion has actually improved over the vaccine campaign.
‘We have always been prepared. That doesn’t mean if it happens [you’re like] “Don’t you think you could have picked a better day for this?” Anita Dunn, senior adviser to the president, told POLITICO. “From day one, as people said, ‘Why are you buying so much vaccine?’ It was with the full knowledge that things would happen along the way that there has never been a 100 percent smooth program of this kind. “
But health experts at the scene tell POLITICO that they’ve experienced that new hesitation firsthand, and that it fed J&J news into it. Dr. Reed Tuckson, the co-founder of the Black Coalition Against Covid-19, said that since the transition he has met with Biden officials, gathered information, provided feedback and called on staff to deal directly with the Black community to convince them to get the vaccine.
Tuckson says he’s noticed a resurgence in the past week in people who say they worry or won’t get it the vaccine. Some who are susceptible to not accepting the vaccine will say, ‘I told you. ‘With others you get:’ I’m just not sure right now…. I think I want to wait to get more information, ”Tuckson said of his conversations since the J&J news broke.
Tuckson added that he has not felt any nervousness from the administration after Tuesday. “There is no panic, but it is a sober, clear assessment that this is going to be a challenge to saving the nation from the pandemic,” he said.
While government officials may not be nervous, they are getting more aggressive and creative about pitching the vaccine to skeptical groups.
On Wednesday, Biden announced that the administration would support tax credits for companies offering paid time off for Covid-19 vaccine appointments and final dose recovery to help ease access problems for some people.
Administration officials say they remain hopeful that, in the long term, people will see the decision to pause the J&J vaccine as proof that the system has worked. They have continued to communicate with community groups to ensure that the message gets across and to emphasize that the choice is binary: get people vaccinated or the pandemic continues.
“When that happens in a few months, the people who get sick and die in the hospital, in the ICU, will be the ones who have not been vaccinated. And it will be quite clear that it does, ”said Dr. Collins. And I don’t want this to be the wake-up call. We can do better than that. But that could be the downstream scenario if we fail to convey all the reasons why now is the time for action. “