As a nation we have faced many COVID challenges in the last year and risen to them but we face one more hurdle. Administering enough vaccines to give our population herd immunity, we currently need to vaccinate an additional 70-80 million people.
Almost 25% (80 million) of Americans have been reluctant to take the vaccine while millions of people are missing appointments for their second vaccine dose. They are getting information from sources convincing them the vaccine can make them sick, that there are long term side effects or that the vaccine is a government conspiracy. If they do not get vaccinated, The longer it takes to get some of these people vaccinated, we prolong the time to ‘reopening’ as well as increase the chances that a more harmful variant can occur.
How can we solve this problem? Why not have doctors book three appointments a day with your patients who are not vaccinated. Take the time to talk with them, listen to their reservations and address them in the way only you can. You know your patients, you have their best interests at heart, and what you say influences their decisions more than anything else – and they know that.
Listen to why they do not want to get the vaccine and address it directly and show that the facts overcome their specific hesitation. You can also reinforce with these three reasons to believe in getting vaccinated from the CDC:
- If you do not get it and catch covid, you can get severely ill, possibly hospitalized and die.
- You would protect your loved ones, neighbors and friends from getting sick.
- You would reduce the likelihood of a more dangerous/contagious variant.
Thank you for your help. Please let us know how it works for you.