40% of Los Angeles frontline workers refused COVID vaccine as some county ICUs ran out of beds

Up to 40% of frontline workers in Los Angeles County have refused to take the coronavirus vaccine by a time when the county’s intensive care units are reaching full capacity.

According to public health officials, between 20 and 40% of frontline workers in LA County who had priority access to the COVID-19 vaccine refused to take it, The Los Angeles Times reported.

In some hospitals, up to 50% of health workers have refused the coronavirus vaccine. The problem is so widespread that hospitals and officials have met to work out the best way to distribute unused doses.

Although coronavirus vaccines have been shown to be largely safe and effective through trials with tens of thousands of participants, skepticism remains high, even among members of the healthcare community.

“I choose the risk – the risk of having COVID or the risk of the vaccine unknown,” said April Lu, a 31-year-old nurse at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center. LA Times.

“I think I choose the risk of COVID. I can control that and prevent it a bit by wearing masks, but not 100% for sure.”

Lu said she feels skeptical of the vaccine as she is six months pregnant and further clinical trials are yet to be done in pregnant women who take the vaccine.

A survey conducted in December by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that up to 29 percent of healthcare workers expressed hesitation about the vaccine.

Those who have expressed skepticism have raised concerns about possible side effects, a lack of confidence in the government and fears that the vaccine is too new.

But other health leaders have warned that if too many Americans turn down the vaccine, the pandemic could spread indefinitely.

Talk to Newsweek Dr Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease specialist, said on Wednesday that about 70 to 85 percent of Americans will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to see a “dramatic decrease” in cases.

Fauci added that it is “very important to immunize the overwhelming majority of people,” and warned the country could otherwise be left in a “chronic state of a lower level of infection”.

The refusal of LA County health workers to get vaccinated comes as county hospitals are inundated with patients infected with the virus.

Over the weekend, about 96% of county hospitals had to transfer emergency patients to other facilities due to overcrowding, the Los Angeles Daily News reported. The situation is so dire that in some cases hospitals have had to refuse ambulances seeking to drop off new patients.

As of Monday, two-thirds of the county’s intensive care beds were filled with coronavirus patients, while some hospitals have fully reached their intensive care capacity. The situation is expected to worsen following the Christmas and New Year celebrations.

To ease the tension, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday he would deploy support teams to LA County, made up of additional healthcare workers from across California.

So far, there have been at least 756,412 cases and 10,056 deaths in Los Angeles since the start of the pandemic, according to the New York Times.

Newsweek contacted Newsom for further comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication.