Vacid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Presents Challenge for Herd-Immunity Push

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

Studies show that, to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and its mutations, between 70% and 80% of the population must develop immunity, increasing the chances of health officials attracting ambivalent Americans to get vaccines.

Currently, about 8% of the United States population has received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to data from the CDC and the Census.

Previous research on the skepticism of the Covid-19 vaccine has shown that people were less hesitant to see others vaccinated. The Census will continue to assess the hesitation going forward, with data released every two weeks.

The Biden government said it plans to launch a targeted vaccination campaign that focuses on people who are said to be the most hesitant, including rural populations and communities of color.

The plan is to build confidence in the vaccine in collaboration with doctors and nurses, religious groups and advocacy organizations working in these communities.

“At the moment, we have a limited supply of vaccines and a 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, which represents state immunization officials. “We have to work hard to establish confidence in the vaccine and access to the vaccine in all communities to ensure that we will achieve vaccination levels to produce herd immunity.”

Opponents of vaccine requirements found common ground during the pandemic with people who suspect pharmaceutical companies, company closings and other government restrictions. Among the unvaccinated adults in the Census survey who said they were unsure about vaccination, 9% said they did not like vaccines. Anti-vaccine protesters stopped a vaccination site at Dodger Stadium last week.

In the absence of a broad national appeal, many Americans are forming opinions about Covid-19 vaccines on their own and do not plan to be vaccinated. “You can’t just say, ‘It’s here and if you don’t want it, you don’t want it,'” said Parinda Khatri, clinical director at Cherokee Health Systems, who has been working on the hesitant vaccination problem in a health system that spans 14 counties in the Tennessee, from Appalachia to Memphis. “From an infection prevention and control point of view, if you ignore 50% of people because you say, ‘Well, I offered’, we are all still at risk.”

In all races, age groups and regions of the country, concern about side effects was the most cited issue among respondents hesitant about vaccines.

Christopher Thomas, a cardiologist in Minnesota, said he told his patients that he had a fever for two days after receiving his second dose of the vaccine and that he was easily treated with a pair of paracetamol. He tells them to compare this possible discomfort with the more serious complications and blood clotting he saw in patients with Covid-19.

The lack of confidence in the government and in the vaccines themselves was also high among people who planned to avoid shooting, echoing previous research that pointed to widespread distrust in the institutions. The proportion of respondents who said they did not trust the government was higher among young people aged 18 to 25. The cohort was almost twice as likely to raise these concerns as Americans over 65. They were also more likely to say that they thought others needed the vaccine more than they did.

About a fifth of Hispanic and white adults do not plan to be vaccinated, while a third of black adults say they plan to avoid vaccines, according to the research, which was developed in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Center National Health Statistics. Hesitation among black and Hispanic populations is of particular concern to public health officials, because these groups are among the populations most affected by the pandemic.

Public policy experts need to target and prioritize the most at-risk populations, said Nancy Berlinger, a researcher at the Hastings Center, a bioethics study center that has issued guidance on effectively prioritizing access to the Covid-19 vaccine.

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

Dr. Chris Pernell, a physician in Newark, NJ, who focuses on the broader health needs of the community and the systems that serve them, is organizing live Zoom and Facebook sessions to engage black and brown communities on science behind the vaccine and recognize the reasons why some may be suspicious or hesitant. She said people are looking forward to information now. 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 was also harmed by Covid-19, which killed her father.

“The only thing you shouldn’t do is to devalue or belittle the concerns that exist in various communities,” said Dr. Pernell. “We cannot begin to embarrass or stigmatize groups where there have been historic injustices that have contributed to breaking trust.”

During her discussions, she sometimes acknowledges that some suspicion among blacks stems from the history of unethical medical research, such as the study of syphilis in Tuskegee, which began in the 1930s and continued for 40 years. The black men who participated were not informed of the true nature of the research and some were deprived of penicillin when it was considered an effective treatment.

Unvaccinated black adults, more than any other group, cited among the reasons against taking the vaccine the fact that a doctor did not recommend the vaccine. In previous surveys, 79% of American adults who have not yet been vaccinated said their doctor’s opinion would be a key factor in deciding to be vaccinated.

Write to Julie Wernau at [email protected]