The choice to not take the COVID vaccine I feel is not defendable. The facts are that 99% of hospitalizations/deaths due to COVID are unvaccinated patients currently. This has caused a more severe strain on a already extremely stressed hospital staff, shortage of equipment and services, injury and death from other causes due to delay of care and suffering of everyone involved in the hospitalized COVID patient among other issues. Virologists report delta and other strains are accelerated and created due to the numbers of unvaccinated people in the US. The fact that vaccination rates have only increased about 20% since July with the information available is appalling, while there are 130k new infections daily in the US. This should not be a personal or individual choice and appears due to unfounded anxiety, medical or religious exception and or politics.
Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
This is likely the first time that public health needed to seriously consider political beliefs in their pandemic messaging and vaccination outreach. Normally when they poll people about public health political ideology isn't that important. The CDC traditionally looks for race, ethnicity, gender or other disparities.
The poll found Republicans were one of the biggest demographic groups overall to refuse or be hesitant about the vaccine, along with Americans under 50 and rural Americans. Women are also statistically slightly more likely to be opposed to the vaccine than men, the poll found.
The poll is from July but it doesn't seem like too much has changed overall, right?
This is likely the first time that public health needed to seriously consider political beliefs in their pandemic messaging and vaccination outreach. Normally when they poll people about public health political ideology isn't that important. The CDC traditionally looks for race, ethnicity, gender or other disparities.
So true. I work in local public health and have participated in several tabletop exercises about response to epidemics/pandemics. The focus was always o logistics and equity. It never occurred to us that people wouldn’t take an approved vaccine.
Painting with a broad brush - I have found that the Anti vax movement in general (Not just the Covid Vaccine) is well represented on all sides of the political aisle as well as a whole bunch of Hollywood Celebs that also happen to be Scientologists.
As a libertarian I have a huge distrust of big government but am a strong believer in vacciantion.
We're only talking about that irrelevant history because you mention it in threads like this one. There's no reason for anyone to butt out.
I have seen plenty of other people post old history as well. So whatever
3 hours ago, toomuchbaloney said:
This is likely the first time that public health needed to seriously consider political beliefs in their pandemic messaging and vaccination outreach. Normally when they poll people about public health political ideology isn't that important. The CDC traditionally looks for race, ethnicity, gender or other disparities.
I don’t normally put myself under fire, but I just really feel like there are a few people that are being excessively judgmental towards people who chose not to do what we do. I guess I just try not to push what I think is the right thing into others and degrade those people for not choosing to do what I think is the right thing.
I too am pro-vax. However, I can understand a woman who is in her prime, with young children at home, who chooses not to take the vax, because it is still being administered under the EUA. She isn’t being one of those tinfoil-hat conspiracy theorists. She just doesn’t take it because there are yet-to-be-fully-determined side effects and adverse reactions that she fears could happen to her, which could potentially lead to her becoming disabled and without the ability to care for her children and family. She would also be left with the financial burden that this could bring upon her family, and ultimately with no way of recouping her loss and gaining any sort of financial stability and compensation. Yes, I’m talking about a lawsuit. Assuming we are all educated, we know that accidents happen when risks are taken. I think the lady that I’m speaking of has every right to make that choice. I am also grateful that she’s does at least take measures and precautions to prevent spread of infection with her declination of the vax. After she explained her reason for refusing to take it, that there’s no one that can ultimately be held accountable if she were to have a scenario like this occur, it got me thinking… there are those anti-vaxers who compare choosing to take the vax with an abortion. I’ve heard it so many times that I couldn’t count. BUT… I can accurately compare someone choosing to not get the vax with other people…let’s say the person with diabetes who chooses noncompliance by not taking medications as directed and not exercising and not eating an appropriate diet… or the obese person who chooses not to exercise and eat right who develops multiple comorbidities… or the family who refuses to put their mother in a nursing home and allows her to continue to drive despite knowing she has dementia/Alzheimer’s… or the 22 year old who has been a type 1 DM their whole life who rotated through all the local hospitals with a glucose of 1200 and an endless cycle of going in and out of DKA while continuing to consume powdered donuts while being rolled in by EMS because their parents didn’t care so they don’t either… or the ESRD patient who skips dialysis too many times to count, has both legs amputated and keeps bedsores… or the chronic pain patient who’s in and out of rehab… I could go on and on. My point is that these people who choose to not vaccinate but are responsible about it, don’t deserve the derision and shaming. Nor do they deserve to be treated any differently. They deserve an ICU bed just like that vax’d COPD patient who’s on the vent because they can’t put the cigarettes down and the vax’d DKA patient who is noncompliant with everything and has a wreck while driving and killed somebody. Everybody’s decisions ultimately affect somebody else. Some of the most expensive diseases treated are diabetes, sepsis, renal failure, etc. That’s why medical treatment and medications and insurance is so dang high. So until we drag everybody to the witch-burning, we really should keep our judgments and ridicule to ourselves. We didn’t (or shouldn’t have) gone into the medical field to play judge and jury to people. We should be helping and educating while respecting people for their decisions, despite whether or not we think they’re wrong.
I don't think that is going to happen but that does bring up a good point. The high cost of the unvaccinated that get sick and who pays. With he unvaccinated taking up most of the critical care beds and sick beds, the cost is enormous.
Sooner or later you have to wonder that the insured unvaccinated is going to get some pushback from the insurance companies and their high cost of care should they get covid. Between public programs, medicare, insurance the system is really being strained and unsustainable.
Cost to the US Heathcare System:
Heart Disease and Stroke- $138 Billion each year
Obesity- $147 Billion each year
When does the insurance companies, CDC, hospitals start to push back on the original pandemic: Obesity in America?
According to the CDC, obesity may triple the risk of hospitalization due to a COVID-19 infection. They estimate that 271,800 (30.2%) of these hospitalizations were attributed to obesity.
Where is the media, CDC, Dr. Fauci telling people that losing weight, eating healthy, exercise will drastically reduce their risk of being hospitalized due to Covid? Only thing you hear from them is: wear a mask and social distance.
So true. I work in local public health and have participated in several tabletop exercises about response to epidemics/pandemics. The focus was always o logistics and equity. It never occurred to us that people wouldn’t take an approved vaccine.
It should not be that surprising. I didn't realize the numbers were so big against the flu vaccine. I thought way more than 50% took it. Vaccine hesitancy is not a new thing, but in this age of hyper-politics, it's taken to a whole new level.
"Since the flu vaccine was first distributed in the mid-1940s, an annual average of about 50% of Americans have taken the shots. That’s despite the vaccine’s high degree of effectiveness, rare side effects and wide availability.
Every year, public health officials aim to vaccinate all U.S. residents older than 6 months. But in a typical year, they achieve only half that goal. Between 3% and 11% of the U.S. population contracts influenza each year, and in the past decade, there have been as many as 61,000 deaths and 810,000 hospitalizations annually, according to the CDC.
Flu vaccines are safe and effective at reducing influenza’s severity, hospitalizations and deaths, but the shots are only 40% to 60% effective at reducing a person’s chance of contracting the illness, according to the CDC. (Compare that to the J&J/Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine which was 66.3% effective in clinical trials (efficacy) at preventing laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 infection in people who received the vaccine and had no evidence of being previously infected. People had the most protection 2 weeks after getting vaccinated. Obviously our other two options have a much higher efficacy but wanted to point out this as relative comparable.) (CDC, updated 23 Jun 2021)
As a result, many people have concluded that flu shots don’t work. That, combined with a pervasive myth that an influenza vaccination can make people sick or even cause the flu, have combined to stymie public health agencies for decades. (my emphasis added. Again, no one should be surprised about the hesitancy and going against the science. Public has been doing that for decades).
Surveys indicate that many people, particularly young adults, believe a flu shot isn’t worth the trouble since they rarely get the flu and when they do, it’s not that serious."
I don’t normally put myself under fire, but I just really feel like there are a few people that are being excessively judgmental towards people who chose not to do what we do. I guess I just try not to push what I think is the right thing into others and degrade those people for not choosing to do what I think is the right thing.
I too am pro-vax. However, I can understand a woman who is in her prime, with young children at home, who chooses not to take the vax, because it is still being administered under the EUA. She isn’t being one of those tinfoil-hat conspiracy theorists. She just doesn’t take it because there are yet-to-be-fully-determined side effects and adverse reactions that she fears could happen to her, which could potentially lead to her becoming disabled and without the ability to care for her children and family. She would also be left with the financial burden that this could bring upon her family, and ultimately with no way of recouping her loss and gaining any sort of financial stability and compensation. Yes, I’m talking about a lawsuit. Assuming we are all educated, we know that accidents happen when risks are taken. I think the lady that I’m speaking of has every right to make that choice. I am also grateful that she’s does at least take measures and precautions to prevent spread of infection with her declination of the vax. After she explained her reason for refusing to take it, that there’s no one that can ultimately be held accountable if she were to have a scenario like this occur, it got me thinking… there are those anti-vaxers who compare choosing to take the vax with an abortion. I’ve heard it so many times that I couldn’t count. BUT… I can accurately compare someone choosing to not get the vax with other people…let’s say the person with diabetes who chooses noncompliance by not taking medications as directed and not exercising and not eating an appropriate diet… or the obese person who chooses not to exercise and eat right who develops multiple comorbidities… or the family who refuses to put their mother in a nursing home and allows her to continue to drive despite knowing she has dementia/Alzheimer’s… or the 22 year old who has been a type 1 DM their whole life who rotated through all the local hospitals with a glucose of 1200 and an endless cycle of going in and out of DKA while continuing to consume powdered donuts while being rolled in by EMS because their parents didn’t care so they don’t either… or the ESRD patient who skips dialysis too many times to count, has both legs amputated and keeps bedsores… or the chronic pain patient who’s in and out of rehab… I could go on and on. My point is that these people who choose to not vaccinate but are responsible about it, don’t deserve the derision and shaming. Nor do they deserve to be treated any differently. They deserve an ICU bed just like that vax’d COPD patient who’s on the vent because they can’t put the cigarettes down and the vax’d DKA patient who is noncompliant with everything and has a wreck while driving and killed somebody. Everybody’s decisions ultimately affect somebody else. Some of the most expensive diseases treated are diabetes, sepsis, renal failure, etc. That’s why medical treatment and medications and insurance is so dang high. So until we drag everybody to the witch-burning, we really should keep our judgments and ridicule to ourselves. We didn’t (or shouldn’t have) gone into the medical field to play judge and jury to people. We should be helping and educating while respecting people for their decisions, despite whether or not we think they’re wrong.
Well said. You hit the nail on the head. You also hit some of my "repeat" offender categories that drive me insane in the ED LOL. You can lead a horse to water, aka non-compliant young T1DM patients, COPDer on O2 who then smokes and becomes a burn patient etc, dialysis patients who "didn't want to go to dialysis the last to sessions" who are now critically ill. I try to educate my patients and family on the risk/reward to the vax and bang my head in the wall when they say no, then carry on. They are free to make that decision. I am concerned about losing staff to this issue as well. I don't know the numbers, but there are co-workers who I would storm the gates of hell with that won't take it and I would still work side by side with them, just as we did before the vax was available. I am vaxed. I wear PPE and they wear PPE. People want to demonize them as well. Like not taking the vax makes them less of a RN, CNA, LPN, MD, RT, etc. They were great before the vax but now, not so much because they don't want the vax?? That makes no sense. Anyway, Thanks for for you post. Loved it!?
When does the insurance companies, CDC, hospitals start to push back on the original pandemic: Obesity in America?
According to the CDC, obesity may triple the risk of hospitalization due to a COVID-19 infection. They estimate that 271,800 (30.2%) of these hospitalizations were attributed to obesity.
Where is the media, CDC, Dr. Fauci telling people that losing weight, eating healthy, exercise will drastically reduce their risk of being hospitalized due to Covid? Only thing you hear from them is: wear a mask and social distance.
I know the county I worked EMS for before becoming an RN started having a wellness program and insurance premium rates went up for folks who did not make progress in lowering A1C, losing weight, lowering BP,etc. You are spot on. Until things like this become a priority, it's like fingers in holes in a dike springing leaks, although we are probably past that point with the guy running out of fingers to plug all the holes already.
This is likely the first time that public health needed to seriously consider political beliefs in their pandemic messaging and vaccination outreach. Normally when they poll people about public health political ideology isn't that important. The CDC traditionally looks for race, ethnicity, gender or other disparities.
The poll is from July but it doesn't seem like too much has changed overall, right?
Oh, Forbes, that bastion of scientific research. The guy talks down to me in earlier post about "not understanding" scientific research and data and pulls out a poll from a magazine. LMAO. If it were financial advice I might think about it. There is actually research being done/been done to better support the claim than Forbes. Weak, very weak, effort. For the record, I don't disagree there are many Trump supporters, AKA republicans hesitant, but you'll find a significant number of younger people and minorities (not typically Republican voters) who are hesitant for varying reasons. But hey, lets keep the political aspect alive and well and divisive as it seems to make some in the room feel better. But, please use better sources next time.
Where is the media, CDC, Dr. Fauci telling people that losing weight, eating healthy, exercise will drastically reduce their risk of being hospitalized due to Covid? Only thing you hear from them is: wear a mask and social distance.
Quote
“Obesity is an epidemic in this country. That's really one of the unfortunate situations, and there are so many reasons for that, that date back from the time a person is a child, the kind of diet that they get exposed to. And it's particularly disproportionate in certain demographic groups. I mean, African-American, Latinx population—clearly almost certainly related to the lack of accessibility early on when their children [need] a completely varied and healthy diet.” Dr. Fauci
“Adults with excess weight are at even greater risk during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the CDC
Fauci said the above back in March 2021 and as early as March 2020 it has been widely known that co-morbidities increase risk of serious illness. On the CDC's homepage is a link to "Healthy Living". I think the masks, vaccines and social distancing take front and center because that's what can help us immediately.
I can agree not enough attention is paid to these problems. I understand and have heard the point "more people die of heart disease than covid but you don't hear about that". Which is true, we seem to be immune to the idea that so many people die of heart disease, that it's common, expected, hereditary and a part of life.
I'm all about prevention and wellness and do wish more could be done to tackle the real killers like heart disease and obesity. Programs have long existed to attempt to tackle these problems. But the push back from agriculture, the food industry and indeed the general public can be fierce. Remember Michelle Obama having the nerve to tell us what we can eat.
The programs and education is out there, has always been out there. More and more programs are out there to help prevent heart disease and it's complicated. But it also involves lifestyle changes. People want to take a pill and have their chest cut open rather than eliminate the true cause, their own behavior.
toomuchbaloney
16,036 Posts
This is likely the first time that public health needed to seriously consider political beliefs in their pandemic messaging and vaccination outreach. Normally when they poll people about public health political ideology isn't that important. The CDC traditionally looks for race, ethnicity, gender or other disparities.
Here Are The Republicans Most Likely To Refuse The Covid-19 Vaccine, Poll Finds
The poll is from July but it doesn't seem like too much has changed overall, right?