A large percentage of frontline workers in hospitals and nursing homes refused to take the Covid-19 vaccine, an obstacle for public health officials as the country struggles to distribute vaccines across the country.
About 50 percent of frontline workers in Riverside County, California, refused to get the vaccine, Riverside’s director of public health, Kim Saruwatari, told the Los Angeles Times on Thursday. California is currently overwhelmed with cases, as hospital staff in Southern California are facing a shortage of intensive care units and have created makeshift units.
The development and distribution of vaccines has been the subject of persistent conspiracy theories and misinformation on social networks, although it is unclear how much impact this anti-vaccination movement has had on the public’s general confidence in the process.
About 2 in 10 Americans are certain they will not change their mind about refusing the vaccine, according to data from the Pew Research Center. And 62 percent said they would feel uncomfortable being among the first to receive the vaccine.
Interestingly, about 60 percent of Ohio nursing home employees have already refused the vaccine, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said during a news conference on Wednesday. It is a stark contrast to the number of nursing home residents who received the vaccine when offered, which DeWine estimated to be around 85%.
“We are not going to do them, but we would like to have greater compliance,” said DeWine. “And our message today is: The train may take a while to return. We will make it available to everyone eventually, but this is the opportunity for you, and you should really think about getting it. “
The launch of the vaccine has already faced several logistical obstacles, as only 2.6 million people were vaccinated by Wednesday. A review by NBC News of earlier data on Tuesday found that, at the current rate, it would take nearly 10 years to inoculate enough Americans to keep the pandemic in check.
It is not clear how the refusal of essential workers, who are prioritized to receive the vaccine in the first phase of administration, can further hamper distribution efforts.
A survey of 2,053 New York City firefighters found that more than half said they would refuse the Covid-19 vaccine when it became available to them, according to a survey released by the Uniformed Firefighters Association this month.
Some of these firefighters may match those who have already contracted the coronavirus and do not believe they need to be vaccinated, said Andy Ansbro, the union’s president.
“As a union, we are encouraging our members to get the vaccine, but we are defending their right to make that choice,” said Ansbro. “I personally feel that this vaccine is safe, I did my own research, I will receive the vaccine and I will encourage other members to do so. In the end, it is your own personal choice ”.
Ansboro was among the many essential workers who received the vaccine, according to a photo published by UFA on Tuesday. The FDNY reported that 1,000 members had been vaccinated by Tuesday.
Several politicians, public health officials and frontline officials publicly took the vaccine to assert confidence in vaccines, including infectious disease specialist Dr. Anthony Fauci, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President Mike Pence.
The nurse at the intensive care unit Sandra Linsdsay was one of the first in the country to receive the vaccine, telling reporters that she felt “relieved” afterwards.
“I feel like the cure is coming,” said Linsdsay. “I hope this marks the beginning of the end of a very painful period in our history.”