U.S. media reported that as many as 80 percent of employees in some U.S. healthcare facilities have refused to receive the U.S.-approved New Crown vaccine due to concerns about side effects after receiving the vaccine.
Although the two vaccines used in the U.S. have been approved by the U.S. Federal Food and Drug Administration, skepticism remains among health care workers and the U.S. public at large, Business Insider 10 reported. Joseph Varon, a critical care physician in Houston, said more than half of the nurses on his unit oppose vaccination for political reasons. In Portland, Oregon, Stephen Noble, a cardiothoracic surgeon, told the Associated Press, “I don’t think anyone wants to be a lab rat. At the end of the day, as a scientist, I just want to see what the data shows. Please give me the full data.”
A study by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that about more than a quarter (27 percent) of the American public does not want to be vaccinated; that percentage rises to 29 percent among those who work in health care facilities. The report notes that 60 percent of nursing home workers in Ohio have decided not to get vaccinated, more than half of nursing home workers in North Carolina refuse to get vaccinated, and about 45 percent of caregivers in West Virginia refuse to get vaccinated. In California, where the outbreak is severe, the percentage is even higher. Between 20 and 40 percent of frontline staff in Los Angeles refused the new crown vaccine; in neighboring Riverside County, that percentage rose to 50 percent.
However, the number of new cases and deaths in the country shows the strong demand for vaccination. In recent days, the number of new cases and new deaths in the United States have exceeded previous records. According to Worldometer real-time statistics, as of about 6:30 p.m. BST on January 11, the U.S. had a cumulative total of 22,879,398 confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia and a cumulative total of 382,956 deaths. Compared with the previous day’s data at 06:30, there were 224,499 new confirmed cases and 2,061 new deaths in the United States.
In an effort to increase vaccination rates among healthcare workers, many administrators have resorted to offering raffle tickets and free breakfast in exchange for vaccination of healthcare workers. According to Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker, more than 7 million doses of vaccines have been administered in the U.S. to date (9:02 a.m. CT on the 10th).
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