- Many people continue to have concerns and doubts about the COVID-19 vaccines despite the overwhelming evidence that they are safe and effective.
- Experts say it’s important to talk with vaccine-hesitant friends and family about the need for everyone to get vaccinated so we can end the pandemic.
- However, experts say the way you speak with a vaccine-hesitant person makes a big difference in helping them make the decision to get vaccinated or not.
- Shaming or arguing does not work. Instead, listen to their concerns, give them the facts, and then let them decide.
COVID-19 vaccine distribution in the United States has been so quick and vast that most adults have been given the option to get at least one shot.
While many were eager to line up and do their part at slowing and hopefully ending the pandemic, others have been more reluctant.
Dr. Tom Kenyon, former director of the Center for Global Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and chief health officer at Project HOPE, said experts know from experience with other vaccination programs that reaching the first 50 percent of a population is the easier part.
“The second 50 percent gets tougher,” Kenyon told Healthline. “Here, we face more pockets of hesitancy and difficult-to-reach vulnerable populations, and that’s where the major health inequities come into play. The most important public message is: Get vaccinated as soon as you have access.”
Kenyon said getting vaccinated is a “tremendous service to yourself, your children, your co-workers, and your country.”
That’s because there are also some people who simply cannot get the COVID-19 vaccine, whether because they’re allergic to one or more ingredients in it or they have a compromised immune system.
Then there are those who simply don’t want to get vaccinated for one reason or another, from not believing the risks of COVID-19 or because they’ve fallen down the rabbit hole of half-truths and misinformation that’s widely shared on social media.
It can seem cumbersome to try and convince each individual person that the COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective against serious illness and death.
But sometimes those conversations are worth having, especially if it’s with someone you love, or someone who has contact with someone you love.
Kenyon said there are essentially three groups that may differ from one community to the next: people who accept vaccines, people who are anti-vaccine, and people who are undecided.
With the current emphasis on the undecided, Kenyon said it’s vital to get factual information to everyone, but especially communities that don’t have as good of access to healthcare and information as other communities.
“Local health departments know their communities best and how to keep them informed,” Kenyon said. “In the U.S. in particular, communities are very frustrated with the level of confusion, long wait times, lack of information, conflicting information, appointment cancellations, and other faults related to not having a standardized national program. Improving vaccine logistics and providing a more reliable and convenient service will also help to address vaccine hesitancy.”
But how you speak with someone about the vaccines is just as vitally important in getting people to start looking at where they can get vaccinated.
Source: healthline