- Some people have begun getting vaccinated against COVID-19 in secret for fear friends and family may disapprove of their decision to get the shot.
- Medical experts say the politicization of the COVID-19 vaccines has added additional challenges during the pandemic.
- If you opt to get vaccinated, healthcare professionals cannot disclose that information without your consent to a loved one.
We’re in a precarious time in the global COVID-19 pandemic. Variants of the coronavirus are sprouting around the world, and one issue particularly plaguing the United States is the phenomenon of vaccine-hesitant sentiments.
Debates over whether or not to get vaccinated have driven sharp wedges between family and loved ones. The politicization of protective face masks and needed vaccinations have generated debate within entire communities as nationwide hospitalizations and deaths climb.
This has all created a dynamic where some people who want to get vaccinated to protect themselves and those around them from the spread of the coronavirus and its evolving variants might feel the need to do so discreetly, kept secret from the pressure and disapproval of family and friends.
It’s a dynamic that’s being reported widely, especially in regions of the country with high rates of COVID-19 transmission.
A recent CNN report highlighted a West Plains, Missouri, doctor who discussed the phenomenon of patients going to great lengths to get inoculated in secret over fear of backlash from their communities and families.
Source: healthline