So few people came for COVID-19 vaccinations in one county in North Carolina that hospitals there now allow anyone 16 or older to get a shot, regardless of where they live. Get a shot, get a free doughnut, the governor said.
Alabama, which has the nation’s lowest vaccination rate and a county where only 7 percent of residents are fully vaccinated, launched a campaign to convince people the shots are safe. Doctors and pastors joined the effort.
On the national level, the Biden administration this week launched a “We Can Do This” campaign to encourage holdouts to get vaccinated against the virus that has claimed over 550,000 lives in the U.S.
The race is on to vaccinate as many people as possible, but a significant number of Americans are so far reluctant to get the shots, even in places where they are plentiful. Twenty-five percent of Americans say they probably or definitely will not get vaccinated, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
They are leery about possible side effects. They tend to be Republican, and they are usually younger and less susceptible to becoming critically ill or dying if they catch COVID-19.
There’s been a slight shift, though, since the first weeks of the nation’s largest-ever vaccination campaign, which began in mid-December. An AP-NORC poll conducted in late January showed that 67 percent of adult Americans were willing to get vaccinated or had already received at least one shot. Now that figure has climbed to 75 percent.
That, experts say, moves the nation closer to herd immunity, which occurs when enough people have immunity, either from vaccination or past infection, to stop uncontrolled spread of a disease.
Friends, family
Anywhere from 75 percent to 85 percent of the total population – including children, who are not currently getting the shots – should be vaccinated to reach herd immunity, said Ali Mokdad, professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington School of Public Health.
A little over three months after the first doses were given, 100 million Americans, or about 30 percent of the population, have received at least one dose.
Andrea Richmond, a 26-year-old freelance web coder in Atlanta, is among those whose reluctance is easing. A few weeks ago, Richmond was leaning toward not getting the shot. Possible long-term effects worried her. She knew that an H1N1 vaccine used years ago in Europe increased risk of narcolepsy.
Then her sister got vaccinated with no ill effects. Richmond’s friends’ opinions also changed.
“They went from, ‘I’m not trusting this’ to ‘I’m all vaxxed up, let’s go out!’ ”
Her mother, a cancer survivor, whom Richmond lives with, is so keen for her daughter to get vaccinated that she signed her up online for a jab.
“I’ll probably end up taking it,” Richmond said. “I guess it’s my civic duty.”
But some remain steadfastly opposed.
“I think I only had the flu once,” said Lori Mansour, 67, who lives near Rockford, Ill. “So I think I’ll take my chances.”
Split by politics
In the latest poll, Republicans remained more likely than Democrats to say they will probably or definitely not get vaccinated, 36 percent compared with 12 percent. But somewhat fewer Republicans today are reluctant. Back in January, 44 percent said they would shy away from a vaccine.
The hesitance can be seen in Alabama’s rural Winston County, which is 96 percent white and where more than 90 percent of voters backed then-President Donald Trump last year. Only 6.9 percent of the county’s roughly 24,000 residents are fully vaccinated, the lowest level in Alabama.
Elsewhere in Alabama, health officials tried to counter problems that include reluctance in heavily Black areas where distrust of government medical initiatives runs deep. They targeted a few counties with a pro-vaccine message, especially in the old plantation region where a large percentage of the population is Black and many are poor.
The campaign enlisted doctors and pastors and used virtual meetings and the radio to spread the word.
