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- Researchers report that about a third of people who were hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccine last year are now more willing to get the vaccine.
- Another survey indicates that the wave of Delta variants, the increase in hospitalizations and the personal knowledge of a person with COVID-19 were the main factors in convincing people to get vaccinated.
- Experts note that there is a difference between people who are “anti-vaccine” and those who are reluctant to be vaccinated.
About a third of people who were hesitant to get vaccinated in 2020 are now ready to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
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“Reluctance to vaccines is waning, but inequalities in reception persist. There is a clear public health opportunity to convert greater willingness to immunize into successfully administered vaccinations, ”the study authors wrote.
Study participants were interviewed between August 9 and December 8, 2020, and re-interviewed between March 2 and April 21, 2021.
Of those who said they were hesitant to get the vaccine during the first survey, 32 percent said they received one or more doses of the vaccine during the follow-up survey.
Another 37% said they were likely to be vaccinated in the near future, and 32% said they were unlikely to be vaccinated.
A Kaiser Family Foundation Survey released today revealed some reasons for the rise in vaccinations.
In their survey, 39% of people vaccinated since June 1 said the surge in the Delta variant had motivated them to get the vaccine. 38% said overcrowding in hospitals convinced them, while 36% said they knew someone who fell seriously ill or died after developing COVID-19.
Dr William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, said the results of the JAMA study are not surprising.
“This generally reflects the trends we are seeing in the United States. Over the past two months more and more of those people who were previously hesitant or skeptical are accepting the vaccination and this continues on a regular basis, ”Schaffner told Healthline.
“The arrival of the Delta variant has really meant that this virus has penetrated even into rural areas… and people are seeing their neighbors and friends admitted to hospital with serious illness,” he added. “It is slowly persuading people that COVID-19 is not a myth. “
At the moment, approximately 184 million people in the United States have been fully vaccinated, just over 55 percent of the total US population and 66 percent of adults. About 77 percent of adults have received at least one dose.
Dr Dean A. Blumberg, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at UC Davis Children’s Hospital, said the reluctance to COVID-19 vaccines can at least in part be attributed to false information being disseminated online.
“This is largely due to misinformation where people express their disapproval of vaccines,” he told Healthline. “They talk about side effects that may not be true [or] concerns that may not be true.
“For example, we heard the one about how vaccines affect people’s fertility, and there’s just no scientific evidence for it,” he said.
“Usually these claims have a kernel of truth to make them valid, but most claims are invalid and false,” Blumberg noted. “Ever since the smallpox vaccine was developed at the end of the 18th century in the West there has been hesitation about the vaccine since then, so it has been around for hundreds of years, but the intensity is certainly higher. Nowadays. It’s magnified by social media and the many false claims that have been made.
The JAMA study found that desire for baseline vaccine was higher among people with a bachelor’s or graduate degree than among those with less education.
Schaffner said this reflected a division across the United States.
“It reflects the big divide in our country… People who are more conservative tend to have less education. The more educated people are gathered in cities where acceptance has been higher, and I think that in general with more education there is more receptivity and recognition of science, ”he said. -he declares.
Schaffner said people with less education are generally less exposed to science.
“They are not aware of it and are suspicious of it,” he explained. “[The study] indicates that a still very large proportion of the population is still not convinced to get vaccinated and that this continues to be the number one public health problem.
With the Delta variant continuing to spread across the country, Blumberg said it was not too late to get the vaccine.
“At this point in the pandemic, since the highly transmissible Delta variant is the main strain circulating in the United States, if you haven’t been vaccinated and you haven’t been infected yet, you will be infected, so in one way or another. everybody’s going to get some sort of partial immunity. It’s just a lot safer to get it in a controlled way by injecting it into a vaccine, ”he explained.
Blumberg said there is a difference between being vaccine hesitant and anti-vaccine.
He argues that those who are completely against vaccinations will demonize everything about every type of vaccine, and deny that COVID-19 is a problem.
Those who are reluctant to get vaccinated are more likely to have been vaccinated in their lifetime and may be afraid of some aspects of vaccines.
“These are people who might be looking for additional information,” he said. “Everyone has their own concerns. I encourage people to talk to their own health care providers, trusted health care providers, and then seek information from trusted sources such as the CDC. [and] the FDA.
In a conversation with someone who is hesitant to vaccinate, Schaffner said it is important not to criticize those who have doubts.
“The first thing I always tell people is not to denigrate vaccine hesitants,” he said. “I think you have to recognize this hesitation and skepticism. There is a valid need for information.
“Even though at the present time virtually all questions are answered correctly, you should nonetheless acknowledge that and then ask them what their particular concern is and if they would be interested in having a discussion on that particular concern,” a- he explained.
“Providing information is fundamental. Psychologists have told us that information is rarely enough to change behavior. You have to change not only the way people think, but [how they] feel on the subject. They need to feel comfortable and reassured, ”Schaffner added.
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Sources 2/ https://www.healthline.com/health-news/covid-19-vaccine-hesitancy-is-on-the-decline-some-reasons-why The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article |
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