New York State Team
The dire push to encourage enough New Yorkers to take COVID-19 vaccines to end the pandemic must untangle a complex web of skepticism towards science, medicine and politics, experts said.
From generational distrust rooted in America’s history of racial discrimination to anti-vaxxer conspiracy theories spreading like wildfire online, hurdles abound in the effort to vaccinate between 70% and 90% of the population to achieve herd immunity and starve the coronavirus.
Early challenges included an estimated 30% of front-line health care workers with exclusive access to COVID-19 vaccines declining to get vaccinated in December, raising concerns about getting shots into the arms of millions of New Yorkers as eligibility expands in coming weeks and months, state and New York City officials said last week.