![]() HCWs said they were willing to take the vaccine as soon as it became available (56% said they were not sure and would wait to review more data). 5-7 Among the general population, surveys indicate that the percentage of Americans who don’t intend to get vaccinated declined from September to December 2020 (from 38% to 32% in one survey and 34% to 27% in another). 8,9 Although this is encouraging, achieving herd immunity may require a higher proportion of the population to be vaccinated. The following are four reasons for HCW vaccine hesitancy, and ways to counter them. While the COVID-19 vaccines are not yet fully approved for commercial use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the FDA has issued Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of several vaccines due to the public health emergency, based on data from clinical trials that included tens of thousands of participants. 11 Still, the condensed timeline in which the vaccines were developed and received EUA has raised safety and efficacy concerns for some HCWs. However, there is evidence that vaccine data can help assuage these concerns. Among HCWs, knowledge of a specific vaccine increased their willingness to recommend that vaccine. 3įor instance, concerns about the speed of COVID-19 vaccine development are often based on the mistaken belief that mRNA technology - used for the first two COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the U.S. But the first successful use of mRNA technology in animals was reported more than 30 years ago, and tremendous mRNA advances have been made over the past decade. Government, public health agencies, and private health care systems can work together to provide accurate information about the vaccines to HCWs. ![]() The increased availability of vaccine safety and efficacy data may be a factor in the increased acceptance of the vaccine in recent months. Herd immunity can be achieved through vaccination or via previous infections, which eventually lead to natural or physiological immunity. 10,13 Some Israeli HCWs, as well as some Americans and Canadians in the general population, have expressed a preference for physiologic immunity, rather than obtaining immunity via vaccination. The difference in consequences between these two approaches to reaching herd immunity must be clearly communicated to HCWs who currently prefer physiologic immunity over vaccination.Ĥ,14 Individuals who believe the seriousness of COVID-19 has been exaggerated perceive the risk of vaccination to be greater than the risk of infection. Achieving herd immunity through previous infection would take significantly longer, incurring an immense cost in health care resources, as well as lives. There is evidence of greater vaccine acceptance among HCWs who have cared for hospitalized COVID-19 patients, presumably because of an accurate perception of the severity of the disease. 4,7 Discussions with clinicians who have had these experiences may convince vaccine-hesitant HCWs to get the shot.ģ. Distrust in government and health organizationsĪ key factor in gaining acceptance of a new vaccine is trust. Media misinformation can cause public doubts about disease spread, prevention, lethality, and vaccine safety, and can promote mistrust of the government, policymakers, health authorities, and pharmaceutical companies. ![]() 3,16 Many members of the public, including HCWs, have been exposed to conspiracy theories (especially on social media) such as the claims that novel coronavirus was intentionally created by the government or that health organizations have exaggerated COVID-19’s lethality for pharmaceutical and political gain. Such misinformation calls into question authorities’ integrity and undermines efforts to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake.
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