It Shouldn't Be This Bad

 

AP Photo Josh Reynolds

COVID's Decline

It's really good news. Better days are ahead. Though impossible to predict, the trends are, for the moment, downward.

We Trail The Rest

Refusal of the vaccine is holding us back. According to The Morning from the New York Times,

Despite all the encouraging news, one shadow still hangs over the U.S.: The pandemic does not need to be nearly as bad it is.

About 1,500 Americans have died of Covid every day over the past week. For older age groups, the virus remains a leading cause of death. And the main reason is that millions of Americans have chosen to remain unvaccinated. Many of them are older and have underlying medical conditions, leaving them vulnerable to severe versions of Covid.

For older people, the effects of vaccination are profound. In late August, near the height of the Delta wave, 24 out of every 10,000 unvaccinated Americans 65 and above were hospitalized with Covid symptoms, according to the C.D.C. Among fully vaccinated Americans 65 and above, the number was 1.5 per 10,000.

Even so, many Americans are saying no to a shot. Among affluent countries, the U.S. is one of the least vaccinated, trailing Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and others. Less vaccination means more death.

Vaccine Opposition

Why some people don't want a Covid-19 vaccine

To find out more about vaccine hesitancy, I went to a trusted news source, The BBC, instead of Social Media sources. They came up with the 5 C's. Their report cautions against lumping the majority of those with reservations with the extreme views of the fringe elements within the anti-vaxxers. 

"They're very vocal, and they have a strong presence offline and online," says Mohammad Razai at the Population Health Research Institute, St George's, University of London, who has written about the various psychological and social factors that can influence people's decision-making around vaccines. "But they’re a very small minority."

According to the article, scientists began studying vaccine hesitancy long before COVID-19 was first identified in Wuhan in December 2019. They have explored various models which attempt to capture the differences in people's health behavior. One of the most promising is known as the 5Cs model, which considers the following psychological factors:

Confidence: the person's trust in the vaccines efficacy and safety, the health services offering them, and the policy makers deciding on their rollout

Complacency: whether or not the person considers the disease itself to be a serious risk to their health

Calculation: the individual's engagement in extensive information searching to weigh up the costs and benefits

Constraints (or convenience): how easy it is for the person in question to access the vaccine

Collective responsibility: the willingness to protect others from infection, through one's own vaccination

Dialog

There are some who will never be convinced. There are others who can be through dialog. A mass message, a once size fits all marketing approach will not change the minds of those who are hesitant.

I saw a picture of a worker at the Bath Iron Works in Maine. He is among a small minority there refusing the mandate. His opposition is fueled by his politics. The sign reads, "Freedom of choice or civil war. You choose." I'm guessing this worker will never be convinced. The mantra of imminent civil war is being perpetrated by right wing extremists. His views are fueled by his extremism.

Vaccine mandate creates conflict with defiant workers

Facts matter. That's where journalism come in. The dialog needs to be informed by factual information. I've engaged in conversation with people who insist on swaying the conversation with falsehoods and misinterpretations. While I listened, I made clear my stance, and that the stance was based on evidence. I wasn't nasty, just insistent.