Right now the COVID-19 vaccine conversation is focused on the fretful disconnect between supply and demand. People who want it can’t get it. Appointments are made and then canceled. Frustration simmers.
That’s today’s reality. There will come a time, educated observers say, when the scenario flips and the rollout, after finally hitting a nice cruising speed, will run into a residual wall of vaccine hesitancy and resistance, the Heartbreak Hill at mile 20 of this marathon.
“Political leaders and public health experts need to recognize that what appears to be considerable public demand for the COVID-19 vaccine right now may be more modest in the coming months,” professors Matt Motta and Timothy Callaghan predict. “In its place, experts will be faced with the new challenge of convincing hesitant groups to get vaccinated in order to reach herd immunity… Developing these communications and identifying appropriate messengers to deliver this information will be vital to stop
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As reports emerge across the country of health facilities throwing out unused and spoiled COVID-19 vaccines, some state governments are failing to track the wastage as required by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, leaving officials coordinating immunization efforts blind to exactly how many of the precious, limited doses are going into the trash and why.
In Washington, a health facility allegedly threw out some COVID-19 vaccine doses at the end of workers’ shifts because staff believed state guidelines blocked them from giving unused shots to people below the top priority tier. In Maryland, workers appear to have tossed thawed doses when they ran out of time to administer them safely. How many doses, exactly, have been wasted in those states is unknown because neither state is tracking unused or wasted vaccines.
Written by Ashley Welch on February 2, 2021 Fact checked by Dana K. Cassell
Vaccine-hesitant groups are exploiting the deaths of people who died of old age or underlying health conditions after receiving the COVID-19 shot to undermine trust in the vaccines. Westend61/Getty Images
Scientists say some deaths will occur during the COVID-19 vaccination rollout, but these deaths would have happened for other reasons and are unrelated to the vaccine.
The newness of the virus and uncertainty about COVID-19 make people more susceptible to misinformation, experts say.
People can implement strategies, including research and corroboration, to ensure the information they’re reading about the COVID-19 vaccines is credible.
Should patients pick and choose Covid-19 vaccines? Here s what experts say.
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With two Covid-19 vaccines available in the United States and another three major vaccine candidates potentially nearing FDA review Americans may soon be tempted to pick and choose which vaccine they get. But that mindset might be misguided, according to public health experts.
FDA has already issued emergency use authorizations (EUAs) for two Covid-19 vaccines: one produced by
Moderna, a two-dose mRNA vaccine that in a clinical trial had shown a 94% efficacy rate against symptomatic infections, and another two-dose, mRNA vaccine by
Pfizer and
However, at least three more vaccine candidates are emerging as major players,