In our 5 January Trends Journal, we reported a survey by the American Nurses Foundation found that “nearly half (44 percent) of nurses say they are not comfortable having conversations with their patients about COVID-19 vaccines.” (See our article, “MASSIVE VACCINATION CAMPAIGN.”)
Now, a New Yorker article published on 2 February documents how many health care workers not only are having trouble advocating vaccinations for patients, they are holding off from getting injected themselves.
As the New Yorker reported,
“In December, the governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine, said that sixty percent of the state’s nursing-home staff had declined the vaccine; in North Carolina, the number is estimated to be more than fifty percent. According to the C.E.O. of PruittHealth—an organization that runs about a hundred long-term-care facilities across the South—seventy percent of employees in those facilities declined the first dose.”
Many of the nurses said they were hesitant because of the rush to get the vaccines out, bypassing normal safety trials. As one nurse clarified, “I think they removed a lot of barriers to get it done faster… There’s no way they’ve been studying it for long enough.”
Kia Cooper, a nursing aide for almost 20 years, has a suspicion the drug companies are profiting from the vaccines: “I do wonder if it’s a money thing. These are big companies trying to force these products on everyone. You have to wonder, are they doing it for us or are they just trying to make money?”
In addition to concerns over Operation Warp Speed’s rush to get out a vaccine and suspicions over the massive profits involved, a professor at Harvard Medical School, David Grabowski, revealed why so many minority health care workers are suspicious of the vaccine:
“In many cases, vaccine hesitancy is not a lack-of-information problem. It’s a lack-of-trust problem. Staff doesn’t trust leadership. They have a real skepticism of government. They haven’t gotten hazard pay. They haven’t gotten P.P.E. [personal protection equipment]. They haven’t gotten respect. Should we be surprised that they’re skeptical of something that feels like it’s being forced on them?”
Forced Vaccinations?
Watch for tensions to rise if companies and organizations start to require getting vaccinated as a requirement to stay employed. According to the 16 December guidelines issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), in most cases, a vaccination mandate is not a violation of federal law.
The guidelines currently state, “If a vaccine is administered to an employee by an employer for protection against contracting COVID-19, the employer is not seeking information about an individual’s impairments or current health status and, therefore, it is not a medical examination.” The EEOC confirmed that anyone proving certain disabilities or religious opposition might be exempt.
Professor Grabowski noted that if health care companies start to mandate vaccinations, they might find themselves losing many workers who are much needed: “It’s a very fluid workforce. A number of employees would just say, ‘No, thanks,’ and nursing homes would be even more understaffed than they already are. That’s a very dangerous place to be.”
