Covid-19 vaccine hesitation challenges the herd immunity push

About 51% of unvaccinated adults said they will definitely get the vaccine, with 26% saying they probably will, 14% say they probably won’t and 10% say they definitely won’t .

Studies show that to stop the spread of Covid-19 and its mutations, between 70% and 80% of the population needs to develop immunity, increasing the commitment to health officials to entice ambivalent Americans to take the vaccines.

Currently, according to CDC and Census data, about 8% of the U.S. population has had at least one dose of vaccine.

Previous studies on Covid-19 vaccine skepticism have shown that people have become less hesitant the more they see others vaccinated. The Census will continue to gauge hesitation going forward, with data released every two weeks.

The Biden government has said it plans to launch a targeted vaccination campaign targeting people whose data shows they are most hesitant, including rural populations and colored communities.

The plan is to build trust in the vaccine in partnership with doctors and nurses, faith-based groups and advocacy groups working in those communities.

“Right now we have a limited supply of vaccines and high demand, but at some point in the future, we will have more supply than demand,” said Claire Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers, who are government officials for immunization. represents. “We have to work very hard to gain confidence in the vaccine and access to the vaccine in all communities to ensure that we achieve vaccination levels to produce immunity to the herd.”

During the pandemic, opponents of vaccine requirements have found common ground with people suspicious of pharmaceutical companies, company closures and other government restrictions. Of the unvaccinated adults in the Census survey who said they were unsure about vaccination, 9% said they don’t like vaccines. Anti-vaccine protesters disrupted a vaccination site at Dodger Stadium last week.

In the absence of a broad, national appeal, many Americans form their opinions on Covid-19 vaccines and have no plans to get vaccinated. “You can’t just say, ‘It’s here and if you don’t want it, you don’t want it,'” said Parinda Khatri, chief clinical officer at Cherokee Health Systems, who has been working on the reluctance to vaccinate in a health system. which spans 14 counties in Tennessee, from Appalachia to Memphis. “From a prevention and infection control standpoint, if you ignore 50% of people because you say, ‘Well, I offered,’ we’re all still at risk.”

Concerning race, age groups and regions of the country, concerns about side effects were the most frequently cited problem among respondents reluctant to vaccinate.

Christopher Thomas, a cardiologist in Minnesota, said he told his patients he had a fever for two days after he received his second dose of the vaccine and that it was easy to treat with a few acetaminophen. He tells them that potential discomfort compares to the more serious complications and blood clotting he has seen in Covid-19 patients.

A lack of confidence in the government and the vaccines themselves was also widespread among those planning to avoid the shots, echoing previous studies suggesting widespread distrust in institutions. The percentage of respondents who said they did not trust the government was highest among 18 to 25 year olds. The cohort was almost twice as likely to raise these concerns as Americans over age 65. They also previously said they thought others needed the vaccine more than they did.

About a fifth of Hispanic and White adults do not plan to get vaccinated, while a third of black adults say they plan to avoid the shots, according to the survey, which was developed in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Center for Health Statistics. The hesitation among the black and Hispanic populations is of particular concern to public health officials as these groups were among the hardest hit populations during the pandemic.

Public policy experts should look for and prioritize the most at-risk populations, said Nancy Berlinger, a researcher at the Hastings Center, a bioethics think tank that has provided advice on effective prioritization of access to Covid- 19 vaccines.

“Low risk and high privilege is easy to vaccinate,” said Dr. Berlinger. “The infection will continue to spread. The virus is working against you. The virus wins if people at high risk of infection continue to be at risk. “

Dr. Chris Pernell, a physician in Newark, NJ who focuses on the wider health needs of the community and the systems that serve them, has hosted live Zoom and Facebook sessions to connect with Black and Brown communities about the science behind the vaccine and recognize the reasons why some may be suspicious or hesitant. She said people are now looking for information. Dr. Pernell, who is Black, said she shares with her audience that she decided to participate in one of the first clinical trials of the vaccines and that she too was injured by Covid-19, which killed her father.

“The only thing you shouldn’t do is devalue or belittle the concerns that exist in different communities,” said Dr. Pernell. “We cannot shame or stigmatize groups if there has been historical injustice that contributed to a broken trust.”

In her discussions, she sometimes acknowledges that some mistrust among black people stems from the history of unethical medical research, such as the Tuskegee syphilis study, which began in the 1930s and 40s. Black men who took part were unaware of the true nature of the study, and some were not given penicillin when it turned out to be an effective treatment.

Unvaccinated black adults, more than any other group, cited one of the reasons for not taking the vaccine that a doctor had not recommended the vaccine. In previous studies, 79% of US adults who had not yet been vaccinated said their healthcare provider’s opinion would be a key factor in their decision whether or not to get vaccinated.

Write to Julie Wernau at [email protected]