Up to 30 percent of the medical staff in New Mexico’s largest hospitals refused vaccination for COVID-19, with some waiting to see side effects in coworkers and others openly refusing vaccines, hospital officials said at a news conference Tuesday. market. .
The level of resistance among frontline medical workers in northern New Mexico – the first group eligible for inoculations under the state’s vaccine implementation – is lower than in some areas of the U.S., including parts of Ohio, California and Texas , where more than half of hospital staff allegedly refused the vaccine.
But it is a much higher rate than medical authorities prefer.
Matt Bieber, a spokesman for the state Department of Health, indicated in an email on Tuesday that the agency was not alarmed that more than a quarter of hospital staff in New Mexico were refusing a COVID-19 vaccine.
“The vaccination effort in the United States has been underway for just a month,” wrote Bieber. “DOH expects the hesitation to subside over time. Research indicates that things are trending in that direction. “
Dr. David Gonzales, medical director of the Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, said that about 70 to 75% of health professionals there accepted the vaccine.
Some workers at Christus St. Vincent wanted to see how others fared from the injections before getting theirs, he said during the virtual weekly update on COVID-19’s efforts at medical facilities.
“And after they saw how they were doing and that their side effects were minimal after the first dose, the rest of the workforce started signing up for vaccines,” said Gonzales.
Dr. Rohini McKee, director of quality and safety at the University of New Mexico Hospital, said the facility does not ask workers whether they are rejecting the vaccine – or why.
But McKee said that about 80 percent of UNM Hospital staff have been vaccinated so far.
Because the vaccine is available in the United States through a federal emergency authorization, there is no precedent for requiring health professionals to formally refuse it and explain why, as they could do for vaccines that have been fully licensed, said Dr. Jeff Salvon-Harman, director of patient safety at Presbyterian Healthcare Services.
Those who refuse established vaccines should take other precautions to protect patients, he said.
Doctors said they hope to reach a vaccination rate close to 100 percent in their hospitals in the coming months, as they educate staff about vaccine safety and see colleagues not experiencing serious adverse effects. In the meantime, they said, people should continue to wear face masks, practice social detachment and avoid mass meetings to ensure that daily coronavirus cases continue to decline in the state.
“It’s a very, very small drop that we’re seeing – not one that inspires a lot of confidence,” said McKee.
Although fewer people are hospitalized in New Mexico now for COVID-19 than in previous weeks, hospitals are serving more than normal numbers of patients with other illnesses, such as the flu, doctors said.
“Although we have seen a decrease in COVID cases … we also remain above typical seasonal volumes, operating at 110 to 120 percent of normal capacity,” said Salvon-Harmon, referring to the Presbyterian facilities.
Dr. Vesta Sandoval, medical director at Lovelace Health System, said the organization is also serving a large volume of patients. “The plateau we are seeing is at a very high level. There is a great sense of comfort for all of our facilities. “
Doctors also addressed the fastest-spreading strain of coronavirus, first reported in Europe and recently emerging in New Mexico.
They cited reports showing that current vaccines are proving effective against the mutant virus.
Although the new strain is more transmissible, it does not cause more serious illness, said McKee. While that seems like a good thing, she said, more people getting the virus lead to a higher death rate.
“We have to take this seriously,” she said. “We have to double the behaviors that we know will work against this virus until we are all vaccinated.”