At my hospital , just as a ballpark figure , 85 percent to 90 percent of COVID-19 patients outside of the ICU are unvaccinated , approximately 95 percent of those in the ICU are unvaccinated , and essentially
100 percent of those who ’ ve died are unvaccinated , so when you see the ability of the vaccine to protect you , that gives you some excellent clues , but it has not budged those vaccine-resistant people .” and 26 co-authors , recommends that COVID-19 vaccination should be a condition of employment for all healthcare personnel . This recommendation is based on the authors ’ acceptance that the COVID-19 vaccines available in the U . S . under the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) emergency use authorization ( EUA ) ( Moderna , Johnson & Johnson , Pfizer 12-15 years ) or approved ( Pfizer for persons > 16 years ) “ have high efficacy to prevent symptomatic COVID-19 , even higher efficacy to prevent serious COVID-19 ( i . e ., hospitalizations and deaths ), and high effectiveness against symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 infection .” They add that , “ The COVID-19 vaccines under FDA EUA have similar safety profiles to vaccines that are currently fully FDA-approved , shown by efficacy trials and effectiveness studies .” They also point to the advantages of full vaccination against COVID-19 , including “ individual protection against COVID-19 infection ; further protection for patients and healthcare personnel ( HCP ) who are unable to receive COVID-19 vaccination or are not able to mount an adequate immune response ; reduced risk of asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic transmission of SARS-CoV-2 between HCP , and from HCP to patients or patients to HCP ; reduced risk of transmitting infection to household members and community contacts ; increased protection for the healthcare workforce in the community setting .” The authors state that the COVID-19 vaccines “ appear to retain good effectiveness against currently circulating SARS- CoV-2 variants against symptomatic illness and even higher effectiveness against severe disease .” They also add that “ Prior experience and current information suggest that a sufficient vaccination rate is unlikely to be achieved without making COVID-19 vaccination a condition of employment ” and that the statement ” is consistent with federal law and regulations .”
The multi-society consensus statement acknowledges vaccine hesitancy , but refers to it as “ vaccine myths ” and states , “ Because of the rapid development and deployment of the COVID-19 vaccines , some of which use technologies not previously employed for vaccines licensed in the U . S ., a number of novel vaccine myths have circulated , including those regarding concerns about DNA integration and infertility . In addition , many people remain hesitant due to concerns about long-term side effects of vaccination . While we must be mindful that long-term side effects will remain unknown until sufficient time has elapsed to assess for such possible effects , it is important to recognize that , among other vaccines that have had adverse events historically , nearly all side effects occurred within six to eight weeks of vaccination . Communication guides and handbooks are available to assist vaccine program planners in how best to communicate to debunk myths and encourage vaccination .”
Weber , who has disclosed in the multi-society consensus document that he is a consultant for Merck and Pfizer , emphasizes that , “ Vaccine hesitancy is something we need to deal with . I liked The New York Times article on reasons for vaccine hesitancy . I thought that was an excellent way of breaking it down into groups – the watchful , the civil disruptors , the COVID skeptics , etc . – and we need to deal with each of those individuals ’ issues separately . The other thing I would say when you look at the polls , you can break them down into two groups ; the first is comprised of vaccine-resistant people called ‘ I ’ m not getting a vaccine unless they make me ’ versus the ‘ watchful waiting ’ and the number of people in this latter group has gone down dramatically as they ’ ve learned more , and the CDC and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology have come out and said not only is the vaccine safe for pregnant women , but we specifically recommend it , and now the vaccine is fully approved , and so on . There are 15 percent to 20 percent that are vaccine resistant , as best as I can tell from the polls , who haven ’ t budged since December , despite all the new knowledge , and many , many studies showing how well vaccines work . At my hospital , just as a ballpark figure , 85 percent to 90 percent of COVID-19 patients outside of the ICU are unvaccinated , approximately 95 percent of those in the ICU are unvaccinated , and essentially 100 percent of those who ’ ve died are unvaccinated , so when you see the ability of the vaccine to protect you , that gives you some excellent clues , but it has not budged those vaccine-resistant people .”
The willingness on the part of scientists and public health experts to acknowledge uncertainty and gaps in knowledge has been problematic throughout the pandemic , leading to confusion around constantly changing guidance for COVID-19 transmission prevention , and fueling distrust that is feeding into vaccine hesitancy .
“ There are always going to be scientific gaps , any scientist will tell you that ,” Weber says . “ That said , we know more about this vaccine … let ’ s take Moderna , which has not been FDA approved yet , but it is authorized ; we know more about this vaccine at the present time than any other vaccine at the time it ’ s been approved . Normally , when a vaccine is approved , you have data not too dissimilar to the 100,000 people who were studied for the efficacy trials . With the three authorized / approved vaccines in the U . S ., we have tens of millions of people who ’ ve been given this vaccine , so we have enormous amounts of information , more than any other vaccine at the time they were approved with one exception , and the one exception is we don ’ t know the total duration of protection – will you need a booster now ? Will it last a year , two years , three years or four years ? So , that ’ s the only thing we don ’ t know .”
Weber continues , “ Now , do we really want to wait four more years and , as the projection I saw from the University of Washington , is another 80,000 deaths between now and January 1 . So , do we really want to wait until thousands more people are dying