Maybe, but my Facebook feed, for example, is loaded with these announcements.
My 30s were the healthiest decade of my life. I never saw a doctor, never needed anything other than simple OTC medications. It was also the only decade I went without health insurance, electing instead to get more each paycheck. It was a gamble, but I won.
Other people’s facebook feeds are loaded with messages about how the election was stolen, and how masks give you ass-cancer.
Whelp, at a certain point I throw my hands up in the air. I attend to a variety of media so I get different perspectives. I can’t make other people be less narrow-minded.
Unfortunately there’s no vaccine for stoopidity. If there were, the people needing it the most wouldn’t take it.
What I mean is that uninsured are not getting vaccinated not due to lack of accessibility; the covid vaccine is free and there has been unprecedented outreach. So the link to uninsured and no vaccination is more likely to be due to other variables as @Bonum_Legatum stated. I think the uninsured probably overlaps with younger adults. They’re less worried about their health. They don’t pay attention to the news as much. It makes sense to me.
Here’s an interesting study (pdf) breaking down the US population by vaccination and masking habits.
https://news.northeastern.edu/uploads/COVID19%20CONSORTIUM%20REPORT%2067%20MASKS%202021.pdf
Masked/Unvaccinated: 19%
Unmasked/Unvaccinated: 10%
Masked/Vaccinated: 60%
Unmasked/Vaccinated: 11%
I agree with the authors that the most interesting slice is the Masked/Unvaccinated population. These are people that take COVID-19 seriously enough to abide by mask rules, but aren’t willing to take the step of a pharmaceutical intervention.
The study also examines levels of trust. The Unvaccinated/Unmasked essentially don’t trust anybody to “do the right thing to best handle the current coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.” However, all groups rated “hospitals and doctors” the highest. The Unvaccinated/Masked group doesn’t really trust Dr. Fauci, their state governments, or the media (both CNN and Fox News rated about the same). But, the Unvaccinated/Masked group still has a lot of trust in hospitals and doctors.
The Unmasked/Unvaccinated are likely too far gone. They’re highly unlikely to be persuaded. The next incremental 10% of the population likely to get vaccinated will probably come from the Unvaccinated/Masked group, so it makes sense to me to focus on them.
These data suggest, in particular, that the masked unvaccinated have motivations and
behaviors that might make them amenable to being vaccinated. These individuals are
somewhat less trusting than the rest of the population of medical and scientific
institutions; but still far more trusting of those institutions than they are of other
entities/individuals we asked about. This might point to pathways for communication and
persuasion regarding vaccination.
I’m no PR expert, but it seems like more relatable, local messaging or grassroots efforts could produce results.
I wonder how many of the masked/unvaccinated find it inconvenient to get vaccinated, or don’t know how, or don’t know that it’s free, or have documentation issues that worry them.
Those I know are mistrustful of imagined side effects.
The masked/unvaxxed person I know of is choosing to believe claptrap from misanthrope relatives.
Print out from the CDC re: side effects and safety have literally been placed in her hands. She mumbles ‘….but I’ve heard….’ and goes on her misbelieving way.
All three of my anti-vax relatives that I paid to get their shots have contacted me asking if I will give them more money to get their boosters.
When logic and facts don’t do the job, small amounts of money can make a large difference. In their cases, 350.00 each was enough for all of their “sincerely held religious beliefs” to vanish.
Unless your parents didn’t allow you to get any vaccinations at all, you have been vaccinated several times for certain viral diseases. The reason you don’t remember is because you were so young when you got the shots that you forgot and AFTER you received the full series, you were done.
You probably weren’t in the military, but if you were, you got the same vaccines along with a bunch of others on schedule.
If you live long enough to get old, you are going to need other vaccines which require several timed injections.
COVID is a new disease, but timed injections have been around for many, many years.
My homeopathy-touting aunt who lives in Eugene (that’s probably the most informative short description I can give) falls into that category. She believes she has a special genetic condition that makes her especially vulnerable to “toxins” such as those found in the vaccine. She’s mostly taking reasonable precautions against infection, besides the single most important one.
My patients who have been cured of Hepatitis C would be surprised to hear this.
I’m all about regular flu shots. I had a serious dose of OMG, shoot me now and put me out of my suffering kinda flu and I never want to do it again. It sucked.
One of the few things I miss about working was the visiting nurse who came and gave us all our flu shots.
I’m pretty irritated that I didn’t write down when I got my shingles shot because I want to get the next one right on schedule. From my understand, I’m at a raised risk of getting shingles because I had chicken pox as a child. Shingles and Chicken Pox are both virus caused and the virus likes to hide in the nervous system.
Anyhow, @gandrews3367 what are you trying to achieve here? Want some money as an incentive to get your shots? Start a gofundme thing and I’ll give you money after you post the link showing that you got jabbed. I’ve got a hundred bucks burning a hole in my pocket.
In these here parts, the state health dept has a website where one can access all one’s vax records and even get a cert for CV vax. In my state, it’s called MyIR. It has all the dates and immunizations. Your state may have something similar.
Thanks for the suggestion! I know that I can find my COVID vaccinations online, I didn’t think to look to see if my others were there. My second shingles shot will be in early December and I’m looking forward to it. I once watched someone suffering through shingles and it looked like something I never wanted to try out for myself.
I’ll happily take the shot to prevent me from suffering so much from that virus, thank you very much.
The only viral vaccine that doesn’t require at least two doses is yellow fever. I also find it weird that people talk about all of the doctors and nurses who are willing to leave their jobs to avoid the vaccine. The truth is that medical professionals have the absolute highest vaccination rate of any profession (more than 96%). You will never get 100% of any group to agree on anything but it’s not like a lot of trained medical professionals are quitting rather than be vaccinated. I got my booster within the first 3 days it was available and the pharmacist who gave it to me said she had been busy all day with doctors and nurses getting vaccinated. The ones taking care of Covid patients are the most eager to be vaccinated as quickly as possible.
The mother of one of our daughter’s friends has just posted a raging screed on Facebook because her 18 year old son’s pediatrician game him a COVID vaccine.
She seems to be shocked that neither living in her house nor being on her health insurance gives her a veto on her adult son’s healthcare decisions.
This might not be so surprising if she wasn’t an actual healthcare professional with 6 years of post-secondary education and 20+ years of working in a clinical setting. She was one of the first people I know who got vaccinated herself.
That’s weird.
I was delighted when my kids could approve their own healthcare decisions. They still asked my advice, but I didn’t need to sign stuff or otherwise deal with administivia.