SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – In some pockets of the country, a large number of health workers have rejected the COVID-19 vaccine and have raised concerns about the deployment and the possibility of hesitation.
However, in San Diego County, available data suggest low denial rates among front-line health care workers, although in some cases health care providers collect their numbers in a way that makes it difficult for them. the evaluation.
Denial rates among health care workers in some Southern California counties have generated significant attention in recent weeks. The director of the Orange County health agency said about 30 percent of that county’s health workers had rejected the vaccine so far. It is estimated that 50 percent of Riverside County health workers had declined.
Because health care workers face the highest risks of COVID-19 and have the highest priority for vaccination, refusals to these rates may imply distrust of the vaccine. But San Diego County health experts warned that denial data is often more complex than it sounds. Figures may be inflated by staff who have delayed the vaccine instead of flatly denying it, or by employees who have received the vaccine elsewhere.
In some cases, health workers delay the vaccine because they have already had COVID-19.
“We do not need to target the vaccine to people who are already theoretically immune. So our policy has been, along with CDC, that you can postpone these people for 90 days, ”said Dr. Christian Ramers, deputy medical director of the San Diego Family Health Centers.
Among those who doubt, there is a spectrum. A national survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation last month found that 15 percent of health care workers fell into the most skeptical category, saying they “definitely would not” receive the vaccine.
“Hesitation as a whole is not a thing. It’s not an anti-vax thing, ”Dr. Ramers said.
Ramers told his own clinic that virtually none of the front-line health care staff interacting with patients rejected the vaccine. He said the number of denials increased between back office staff and those working from home.
Some women expressed concern about the vaccine because they were pregnant or planning to become pregnant, Dr. Ramers said. Pregnant women were not expressly enrolled in the Moderna or Pfizer trials, although some participants became pregnant during the study.
Ramers said that after discussing the risks and benefits of the vaccine with staff individually, many pregnant women chose to receive the vaccine.
ABC 10News surveyed some of San Diego County’s top medical providers.
Some providers, such as Sharp Healthcare, said they do not track the number of direct denials. As of this week, Sharp said 75% of its health workers have been vaccinated. Sharp has vaccinated 16,200 workers from 19,000 employees and 2,700 affiliated physicians.
Scripps Health said it had so far vaccinated 67% of its workers, or 14,449 of its 21,559 employees. The other 33 percent had not yet responded.
“A lack of response can mean several things, such as getting the vaccine elsewhere, wanting more information, wanting to wait longer, or getting pregnant,” said Stephen Carpowich, Scripps public relations manager.
UC San Diego Health said of the approximately 13,000 health care workers who offered the vaccine, 72% had received a first dose. Only four percent had declined. Another 6% were postponed for various reasons, such as vacation or pregnancy.
The remaining 18% were scheduled for a vaccine or had not yet responded.
Health experts suspect the San Diego County decline rate among health care workers is in low digits.
“It’s an acceptance rate of 95.98 percent by the initial health workers who offered the vaccine,” Dr. Ramers. “And we are the ones who see these patients and we know how bad this disease can be.”
He said anyone who resists the vaccine should talk to their doctor about their individual risk factors.