Thousands of health and frontline workers in the US are refusing to receive COVID-19 vaccines as the rollout of the shots in America continues to sputter.
Up to half of California County health workers and a Texas hospital say they don’t get the chance, 60 percent of Ohio nursing home workers reject the shot, and 40 percent of Los Angeles frontline workers don’t get it, polls show.
Respondents to a number of studies cite fears of dangerous side effects, health worker posters say they feel they are being used as guinea pigs, and experts blame misinformation.
While life-threatening side effects are rare, examples of these emerged in the early days of the vaccine’s introduction in two Alaskan health workers – one of whom had no history of allergies – who had developed anaphylactic shock minutes after taking the first dose Pfizer. vaccine.
The problem is not unique to the US. Both American and Dutch health workers have complained that they are being used as guinea pigs.
But it’s a dire problem in the US, where 3,000 people routinely die within a period of just 24 hours, and the rollout of vaccines is at a snail’s pace, with only about 14 percent of the 20 million people promising Operation Warp Speed to be vaccinated towards the end. of 2020 who will receive their first doses before New Year’s Day.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said on Thursday that 60% of nursing home workers are refusing vaccinations. According to the Los Angeles Times, 40% of health workers in Los Angeles and 50% in Riverside County refuse shots.
In Ohio, 60 percent of nursing home workers reject coronavirus vaccines, as do half of health workers in Riverside County, California, despite high COVID-19 risks and being the first to be offered the shot (file)
Millions of doses of coronavirus vaccines are available in much of the US but are not used
Health workers have been ranked first in line in all states to get vaccinated against COVID-19, following the CDC’s recommendations to prioritize inoculation.
Providing early access was designed to protect nurses, doctors and hospital staff who are exposed to COVID-19 patients time and time again.
Public health experts hoped that vaccinating health workers would not only protect them from infection, but also reduce the risk of them spreading the virus and prevent hospitals from running out of staff.
But the assumption that health professionals would want the photos has not materialized.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said on Thursday that about 60 percent of nurses there refused the shot.
“We’re not going to make them, but we wish we had higher compliance,” he said.
‘And our message today is: the train may not return for a while. We’re going to eventually make it available to everyone, but this is the opportunity for you, and you really have to think about getting it. ‘
Health workers took to Twitter to voice concerns about lack of data on vaccine safety
A health worker in New Jersey said she was confident that she and her colleagues will be vaccinated first to serve as ‘guinea pigs’ for COVID-19 injections before being given to the general public
In Los Angeles County, between 20 and 40 percent of frontline workers refuse the shot from COVID-19, the Los Angeles Times reported.
In nearby Riverside County, refusal is even more common, with half of front-line workers rejecting vaccines against the coronavirus.
“I choose the risk – the risk of getting COVID, or the risk of getting the unknown from the vaccine,” April Lu, a 31-year-old nurse in California, told the LA Times.
‘I think I choose the risk of COVID. I can control that and prevent it a bit by wearing masks, although not 100 percent sure. ‘
Nursing refusal shouldn’t have come as a complete surprise to health officials – especially in California.
A Kaiser Family Health Foundation poll published Dec. 15 – just as the US was starting to distribute vaccines – found that 29 percent of people working in health care did not want the hospitalization.
A national mandate for COVID-19 vaccinations would be unprecedented and unlikely, even under the upcoming Biden administration.
However, individual settings may require shots.
For example, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) requires that all clinically practicing employees get flu shots to get to work.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said he is “sure” some institutions and companies will need vaccination and that “everything will be on the table” in terms of how more people can be vaccinated and the pandemic can be ended, News Week said.