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- Experts say a fear of needles may keep some people from getting a COVID-19 vaccination.
- They say the causes of this fear, known as trypanophobia, aren’t known, but past experiences and brain chemistry may be factors.
- Experts say there are therapies and medications that can help.
The vaccines now available for COVID-19 have been shown to be highly effective and safe.
But that doesn’t mean everyone is excited to get the shot.
For some people, reluctance to get vaccinated is rooted in distrust of science or the government.
For others, however, there’s something far more primal at work: fear of needles.
Known as trypanophobia, the fear of needles is a common phobia.
A 2018 University of Michigan study published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing found that a majority of children, as well as 20 to 50 percent of adolescents and 20 to 30 percent of young adults, exhibited fear of needles.
“The fear of needles and injections tends to manifest differently among different age groups,” Sarah Johnson, RN, the health and wellness ambassador for online elder care provider Family Assets, told Healthline. “For children, the fear is an understandable response to the anticipation of pain and the foreign sensation of something metallic and sharp against the skin.”
“In adults, the fear is similar, but some evolutionary psychologists believe that a fear of needles may be, in part, a survival response rooted in a primal and very natural fear of puncture wounds, dating back to human prehistory when any small wound could have spelled infection and potentially death,” she added.
The University of Michigan researchers found that avoiding flu shots due to needle fear or phobias was cited by 16 percent of adult patients, 27 percent of hospital employees, 18 percent of workers at long-term care facilities, and 8 percent of healthcare workers at hospitals.
“While the whole world celebrates the discovery and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, people with trypanophobia are left to face yet another challenge as they dwell on how they’ll wake up from this pandemic nightmare while carrying a common fear of needles,” Sam Nabil, CEO and lead therapist for Naya Clinics, a national chain of counseling centers, told Healthline.
Source: healthline