Almost Half of Frontline Health Care Workers Haven't Gotten the COVID-19 Vaccine Yet, Survey Finds
Brian van der Brug-Pool/Getty Health-care worker receives COVID-19 vaccine
A new survey has found that almost half of health-care workers haven't received a dose of any COVID-19 vaccine.
Conducted by The Washington Post and Kaiser Family Foundation, the poll was taken from Feb. 11 to March 7 by 1,327 people who work on the front lines within the heath-care industry, 597 of whom have not gotten at least one dose of the shot.
Of those 597 — who represent 45% of the total number surveyed — 232 have either scheduled a time to get the vaccine (50) or are planning to do so (182), while 137 are undecided and 228 don't plan to get the vaccine at all.
"As many as 1 in 6 health workers said that if employers required them to get vaccinated, they would leave their job," The Washington Post reports.
Speaking with the outlet, president of global immunization at the Sabin Vaccine Institute, Bruce Gellin, noted that "Health-care workers are everybody" — meaning anyone from infectious-disease physicians to home health aides.
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Joe Raedle/Getty Health-care worker receives COVID-19 vaccine
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Broken down by demographics, 58% of male health-care workers have received at least one dose of the vaccine, compared to 50% of females.
The percentage is highest among the "other" race category, while among white, Hispanic and Black poll participants, 57%, 44% and 39% have received at least one dose, respectively.
Furthermore, hospital workers were the most likely to have gotten at least one vaccine dose (66%), followed closely by those working at outpatient clinics (64%).
Fifty-two percent of doctors' office employees have received the vaccine, while 50% of those working in nursing homes/assisted-care facilities and 26% of survey-takers working within patients' homes have done so.
APU GOMES/AFP via Getty COVID-19 vaccine
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As of Friday afternoon, 118,313,818 doses have been administered in the U.S. since the first vaccine, from Pfizer, was approved for emergency use in December, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
About one in four Americans — 77,230,061 — have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and more than one in 10 (41,879,357) are now fully vaccinated.
President Joe Biden said Thursday that he would announce a new goal for vaccinations next week, after hitting his goal of 100 million doses during his first 100 days in office by just his 58th day, and urged anyone who is still hesitant to get their shot.
Biden, 78, emphasized that vaccines will help end the pandemic, noting that some states are seeing a rise in cases as newer variants spread through the country. "Getting vaccinated is the best thing we can do to fight back against these variants," he said.
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