Thousands of U.S. health care and front-line workers refuse to receive vaccines against COVID-19 as gunfire launches in the United States continues to spread.
As many as half of California County Health Workers and a Texas hospital say they will not get the shot, 60 percent of nursing home staff in Ohio are rejecting the blow and 40 percent of workers front-line Los Angeles won’t get it either, polls reveal.
Respondents in several polls cite fears of dangerous side effects, health workers ’forum posters say they feel they are being used as guinea pigs and experts blame the misinformation.
While life-threatening side effects are rare, examples of them appeared in the early days of the vaccine deployment with two health workers in Alaska – one of whom had no history of allergies. – suffering from anaphylactic shock minutes after getting the first dose of Pfizer. vaccine.
The problem is not unique to the US. American and Dutch paramedics have complained just as much that they are used as guinea pigs.
But it is a terrible problem in the United States, where 3,000 people routinely die in just 24 hours and vaccine deployment continues at a sluggish pace, with only 14% of the 20 million people that Operation Warp Speed going promise to vaccinate by the end of 2020 receiving their first doses before New Year’s Day.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Thursday that 60 percent of nursing home workers reject the vaccine. According to the Los Angeles Times, up to 40% of health workers in Los Angeles and 50% in Riverside County reject shots.
In Ohio, 60 percent of nursing home workers reject coronavirus vaccines, as do half of health care workers in Riverside County, California, despite facing high risks of COVID-19 and the hits are offered first (file)
Millions of doses of coronavirus vaccines are available in much of the United States, but they are not used
Health workers have received the top spot on the line for vaccinating against COVID-19 in all states, following CDC recommendations to prioritize inoculation.
The granting of early access was intended to protect nurses, physicians, and hospital staff repeatedly exposed to patients with COVID-19.
Public health experts hoped that vaccinating the health worker first would not only protect them from infection, but would reduce the risk of the virus spreading and preventing hospitals from running out of staff.
But the assumption that health workers would want to be fired has not faded.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Thursday that about 60 percent of nurses refused.
“We won’t do them, but we would like to have more compliance,” he said.
‘And our message today is: the train may not return for a while. Finally, we will make it available to everyone, but this is the opportunity for you, and you really should think about getting it. ”
Health workers took to Twitter to express concern about having too little data on vaccine safety
A New Jersey health worker said she was sure she and her colleagues would first be vaccinated to serve as “guinea pigs” for COVID-19 shots before giving them to the general public.
In Los Angeles County, between 20 and 40 percent of front-line workers reject the COVID-19 feature, the Los Angeles Times reported.
In nearby Riverside County, denial is even more common, with half of front-line workers rejecting coronavirus vaccines.
“I’m choosing risk: the risk of having COVID or the risk of the vaccine unknown,” April Lu, a 31-year-old nurse in California, told the Los Angeles conference.
“I think I’m choosing the risk of COVID. I can control it and prevent it a bit with masks, although it’s not 100% true.
The nurses ’refusal shouldn’t have come as a surprise to health officials, especially in California.
A survey by the Kaiser Family Health Foundation published on December 15, just as the United States began distributing vaccines, found that 29% of people working in health care settings did not want the vaccine.
A national mandate against the COVID-19 vaccine would be unprecedented and unlikely, even under the Biden administration.
However, individual institutions could demand traits.
For example, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) requires all practicing clinical staff to receive influenza vaccines in order to work.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said he is “sure” that some institutions and companies will require vaccination and that “everything will be on the table” in terms of how to vaccinate more people and end the pandemic, according to News Week.