October 21, 2024 – Ron Saritzky, 70, wasted no time as he entered Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Panorama City, California, near Los Angeles. With a vivid blue table and a banner reading “Be Protected” as a greeting, he headed straight for his flu and COVID vaccine updates.
Minutes later, a nurse had injected each into his left arm, just as he had requested. “It’s super great,” Saritzky said, appreciating the convenience for walk-ins like him.
Outside, at one other vaccination table near the weekly farmers market, one other nurse offered Rafael Orellana, 49, a flu shot. He immediately sat down. “We need it,” he said, making it clear that he won’t ever skip his flu shot.
Despite their enthusiasm, Saritzky and Orellana are within the minority. Surveys show that vaccine hesitancy is widespread for each flu and COVID, with many delaying or skipping shots. The latest trends bear this out: Only about 22% of adults have received a flu shot to this point this yr, while 12% have received the updated COVID vaccine. according to CDC.
People say vaccinations are a very good idea, but words don't at all times translate into actions. In one Opinion poll According to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, two-thirds of individuals said getting a flu shot was a very good idea — but 45% weren't planning on getting it or weren't sure. Only 26% planned to update their COVID vaccine CDC recommends.
Fight against vaccination fatigue
Acceptance of the flu vaccination has at all times been low, as statistics show and doctors confirm. For the 2023 to 2024 flu season only 45% of U.S. adults and 55% of kids under 17 received the flu vaccine.
Vaccination programs like Kaiser's, which launched in 2010, seek to handle this ambivalence with strategies aimed toward convenience.
“In addition to the vaccination tables at the Panorama City facility and many of the organization's other centers, Kaiser is offering a drive-thru vaccination clinic and making vaccines available at every doctor's visit,” said Dustin Ashenfelter, registered nurse and division chief of Family Medicine Flu and COVID -Surgery at Kaiser Permanente. Kaiser also has clinics at Target stores for many who need to get vaccinated and shop for a number of essentials while they're at it.
Still, the mission is a steep climb, Ashenfelter said, and it gets steeper because the weeks and months go by.
“Early in the season, these are the people who know they want the flu shot, so they're happy to come,” Ashenfelter said. “As time goes on, I think we'll see more of this vaccine-hesitant group – and they're still questioning whether or not they want to get the vaccine.”
Why it is best to protect yourself through the shots
Public health experts cite many the reason why people delay or skip vaccinations.
For one thing, there's an absence of sense of urgency today, 4 years into the pandemic, said Suruchi Sood, PhD, director of communication sciences and senior scholar within the division of health, behavior and society on the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. This is comprehensible as COVID infections have declined.
But the danger continues to be real, she said. COVID still causes almost 2% of US deaths in line with the CDC. The test positivity rate – or the variety of tests taken that showed someone was positive – was 10% for the 2 weeks ending October fifth. And further evidence suggests that COVID infections are linked to 1 increased risk of heart problems.
At the beginning of the pandemic, public health was the highest priority. But now Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist on the Johns Hopkins Center of Health Security, tells patients to take into consideration themselves.
“Do it because it will improve your Life,” he said. “We live in a world with a lot of respiratory viruses, and the vaccines are an important tool to help us navigate this world.”
Another potential disincentive: Vaccines usually are not perfect. Vaccine makers must make an informed guess months upfront about which COVID variant and flu strain they’re targeting. They don’t guarantee that you’re going to not get sick, and their protection doesn’t last perpetually.
“I recognize that these are not our best vaccines for preventing disease,” said Gretchen LaSalle, MD, a family physician in Spokane, Washington, and creator of Let's Talk Vaccines: A Doctor's Guide to Combating Vaccine Hesitancy and Saving Lives. “They do help, but you can get vaccinated and still get the disease. I remind you of that [patients] that this is because these viruses are constantly mutating, so neither immunity to disease nor immunity to a vaccine lasts very long.”
But vaccines Are According to LaSalle, it is rather good at stopping serious illness, hospitalization, pneumonia and death. Plus, disease prevention alone isn't the one reason to get vaccinated, she said — it may also prevent you from missing a vacation or Christmas party.
Staying on top of the really helpful vaccination schedule may be difficult. (You can find this yr's really helpful COVID vaccination schedule here Here. For the flu, the CDC recommends everyone 6 months and older get it Get a flu vaccine yearly with rare exceptions, and adults 65 and older should receive one in three improved flu vaccines.)
Reminders may be helpful, but there’s a balance between helpful and annoying. A current one study found that sending text messages increased COVID vaccine uptake by 21% over the following month, but offering free rides to vaccination sites had no effect. The study authors concluded that transportation was not a barrier to vaccination.
Many people simply don't like needles. “People don’t like gunfire,” Sood said. Actually, 25% of adults within the U.S. are afraid of needles, and about 16% of them skip a procedure due to fear. If that is you, you’ll be able to do that ask If you employ numbing creams or sprays, attempt to distract yourself, bring a companion with you, or deal with the proven fact that the pain is short-lived. The needle-free nasal flu vaccine can be introduced next yr. FluMist, will due to this fact be available for home use FDA.
But perhaps the primary reason why people don't get vaccinated? Nobody asked. Many primary care physicians and other health care providers don't address it, said Steve Furr, MD, a primary care physician in Jackson, Alabama.
Furr asks patients whether or not they need to be vaccinated. “Just last week, 4 different people said to me, 'Why not?' “I’m here.” When spouses come to go to, Furr invites them to roll up their sleeves too.
Vaccines are widely available in doctor's offices. So when you're currently seeing your doctor, be happy to ask when you can get one.
In the meantime, Ashenfelter and his Kaiser crew will keep asking. Their goal is to vaccinate 44% of the 230,000 members of their region with the flu shot by June 2025. As of October 10, 19% had received this vaccination.
The goal for COVID vaccines? As many as possible, he said.