America’s health workers suffered indescribable trauma over the past year, putting their lives and that of their families at great risk as they battle a novel virus outbreak. Has COVID-19 claimed more than 450,000 American livesincluding almost 3,000 Health workers.
The development of effective Vaccinations It would always be a pivotal turning point to control the pandemic and bring back something normal. This is especially true for frontline health workers who are among the most at risk due to their proximity to infected patients.
ON vaccinated health care workers can continue to occupy the front lines in the fight against the pandemic and be an ambassador for a wider vaccination effort.
However, the campaign to immunize health professionals has stalled as a significant number of frontline workers oppose the vaccine. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only 38% of nursing home workers participated in the federal government’s vaccination campaign for residents and employees of the facilities in the first month. Although these numbers have likely increased in the past few weeks and this number does not include workers who received a vaccine outside of their workplace, they do illustrate the problem.
ON Morning Consult survey In the first week of January, it was found that 23% of healthcare workers said they would never accept the vaccine. 38% of the unvaccinated employees feared long-term side effects. Health workers are a little more skeptical compared to the general public. ON Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation survey Last month, 13% of Americans said they would never get vaccinated COVID-19.
However, surveys also show that the acceptance of vaccines has increased steadily since their actual availability more than 27 million Americans have received at least one dose so that the hesitation may subside.
Since this is a new and novel virus, we still don’t know that much.
Christina Allen, nurse
Given how much they can benefit from a safe vaccine, the reluctance of many healthcare workers may seem surprising to laypeople. Many believe the reluctance is a result of the “anti-Vax” movement or a sign that the vaccines are unsafe. However, the reasons why health care workers have decreased are complex and varied.
Christina Allen, a nurse from Hyattsville, Maryland, was initially reluctant to get a vaccine because questions about the vaccines and the inequalities in their distribution, especially in black and brown communities, went unanswered. Still, she received her first dose of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine on January 13th.
“I knew that one day I would get the vaccine. I’ve never been suspicious of the science behind vaccination, and I understand how effective vaccination has advanced public health and eradicated some of the deadliest viruses and diseases in history, “Allen said. “Since this is a new and novel virus, we still don’t know that much, and I think this has also led to a slight hesitation for me.”
Everyone feels good about their decision to get the shot: “I want to protect myself and not just myself, but also my community and my patients as well as possible. And I feel like I did the right thing – it wasn’t an easy decision – because I feel like I’ve given myself and others so much more protection. “
Experts and representatives of health care workers and health care employers are quick to point out that these reluctant workers are not fools, conspiracy theorists, or anti-vaxxers. In many ways, their concerns grew from the particular circumstances of the Coronavirus Pandemic.
Some health care workers have developed deep distrust of their employers and government leaders during the pandemic, having fought for months over basic necessities such as masks and other personal protective equipment. You have watched the government botch so many aspects of the COVID-19 response that when the same authorities tell them to get vaccinated first, their messages are not always well received, essentially to get guinea pigs for new vaccines his.
“People are in a really challenging crisis and at a breaking point. We need to understand that and invest in this workforce,” said Matthew Yarnell, president of Harrisburg-based Service Employees International Union Healthcare Pennsylvania, during a conference sponsored last month from the Kaiser Family Foundation. “We believe there are some very important steps that are needed to build trust with a workforce that is very suspicious of their government and their employers.”
Some healthcare employers have financial incentives used encourage workers to participate in the vaccination campaign. Others have ordered vaccinations, but such dictation from their superiors could deepen workers’ distrust, don’t improve, said Yarnell.
People are in a really challenging crisis and at a breaking point.
Matthew Yarnell, President of SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania
The speed at which vaccines have been developed and approved is also causing some health care workers to pause. Even the name of then-President Donald Trump’s vaccine development program, Operation Warp Speed, was a departure. (President Joe Biden has scrapped this name.)
“One trend we saw in our survey was that people were really concerned about the vaccine’s fast development schedule, how fast it was going, Operation Warp Speed, all these subliminal messages about,” This is fast. This was quickly put together, ”said Adva Gadoth, an epidemiologist at the University of California at Los Angeles, the one ongoing study the UCLA hospital staff about their experiences during the pandemic. Although these concerns are unfounded, health workers do not get the message clearly enough.
“Something public health needs to do better is make the public known and reassure them that all of these checkpoints are in place,” Gadoth said.
There are also concerns about side effects, especially in women who are or might become pregnant because of The science is unclear about how the vaccines can affect pregnancies.
“They are concerned that because they are the first, something may show up that was not discovered before and that they will be the ones to saddle up with it,” Gadoth said.
Additionally, health professionals are prone to rampant false information about the vaccines Just like everyone else, especially those workers who do not have the advanced medical and scientific training of doctors and senior nurses. The healthcare workforce comprises a large and diverse number of jobs, including home and nursing home helpers, nurses, cleaning staff, security guards, and more. Many of these professions require no more training than a high school diploma.
They are concerned that something might show up that wasn’t discovered before because they will be the first to leave.
Adva Gadoth, epidemiologist at UCLA
Vaccine hesitation “doesn’t mean our employees are stupid or not making good decisions or anything like that,” said Mark Parkinson, CEO of the American Health Care Association, a Washington, DC-based industry group for nursing home operators.
“There is just a lot of misinformation. There are widespread rumors on social media that the vaccine may cause fertility problems, which has raised concerns among many young women who work in our facilities, ”Parkinson said during the Kaiser Family Foundation event.
There are special concerns for black and brown health workers disproportionately represented in health sectors such as home care and nursing homes and who have good reasons to be careful about the medical establishment and government. Members of these communities can point to evidence in the form of historical crimes against black people, such as the infamous decades-long Tuskegee experiments on black men with syphilis, as well as chronic differences in access to health care and poorer health outcomes compared to whites.
“If you don’t believe this is real and has a real effect, that experience has shown that this is still out there,” said Parkinson.
There was a lot of misinformation out there.
Mark Parkinson, CEO of the American Health Care Association
Many factors influenced Allen’s decision to be vaccinated, including her own health, her responsibility to her patients, and her responsibility to her community as a whole. “I wanted to give myself time to think and just have more conversations with my colleagues and colleagues,” she said.
Making your decision also meant coming to terms with the fact that the pandemic has hit the black and brown communities the hardest, and they are vaccinated at lower rates than other segments of society. Especially with limited vaccine supplies, Allen feared going ahead of someone who might need protection more than she did.
“As a woman of color, especially a black woman, when you make certain decisions about your health and healthcare, you are considering certain things that others may not be considering,” she said.
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