Experts say vaccine hesitation is to blame as COVID count rises again in Miami-Dade, Broward

MIAMI, Florida – The director of the Centers for Disease Control said this summer we are in an “unvaccinated pandemic”. According to Dr. Rochelle Walensky, 97 percent of people who enter hospital today are not vaccinated.

US Department of Health and Human Services data documents show reluctance to vaccinate in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. The data also shows that in parts of South Florida, it is estimated that more than 8% of the population remains “strongly hesitant.”

Last April, infectious disease experts said tackling vaccine reluctance would be critical to the ongoing battle against COVID-19.

Now in July, as the unvaccinated fill hospital beds in South Florida, vaccine reluctance is once again worrying community leaders, health workers and public health officials.

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Infectious disease experts like Marty are working to fight misconceptions, such as the “natural immunity” argument and a belief system that catching COVID is somehow better than getting vaccinated.

“There is no benefit to being infected with the real virus, while there is a real benefit to being vaccinated. This will reduce your risk of serious illness, death and “long” COVID, ”Marty said.

She added that “we really need to move on to herd immunity to the vaccine because that’s when you really close the valve to create more variants and spread the disease more. “

The CDC recently reported that it is estimated that over 60% of all cases are from the highly contagious Delta variant. Marty said the unvaccinated not only get sicker and sicker, but put the health of those who are fully vaccinated at risk.

“These Delta variant cases kill thousands more viral loads than the original,” Marty pointed out.

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“Now we have these unvaccinated people shedding an outrageous amount of virus and, yes, you are vaccinated, but in an enclosed space your immunity can be overwhelmed by these high dose infections. This is why I recommend that people, when indoors in crowded, poorly ventilated spaces, start wearing a mask again even if they are fully vaccinated. “

Miami-Dade County on Tuesday issued a joint press release from several county leaders, including the mayor and chief of police, which urged residents to get vaccinated.

“Miami-Dade has already achieved a vaccination rate of over 75%, according to data from the Florida Department of Health – an important step and a major factor in keeping positivity rates low compared to other parts of the world. ‘State. But the COVID variants are a real and growing threat, and we can’t stop now, ”the statement said.

In Broward County, Mayor Steve Geller is both frustrated and baffled as he witnesses the number of cases that have tripled in his county in the past two weeks despite the vaccine’s availability and accessibility.

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“I just don’t understand this,” he told Local 10 News. “We are in the midst of an exploding health crisis which is completely preventable. Hospitalizations are preventable. I am horrified and I hope people will fix this, protect themselves, their friends, their family, their community and their country and do the patriotic thing and get vaccinated.

NSU political science professor Charles Zelden said the nation also faces “growing opposition to the vaccine” from those who view vaccination efforts through a political lens.

“It’s really tied to conservative political ideology right now,” Zelden said. “There are those within the conservative movement who see that the government pushing this makes it a bad idea, ‘it should be your idea, it should be your choice, not the government’s.’ Even though what the government is pointing out is that it is good for you and for the society and good for the nation, they are not buying it. “

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He adds that for hyper-partisans, “their sense of their world is shaped by the political sense of reality. Right now, this reality, largely at the behest of their political leaders and policymakers, is that the pandemic is not as bad as it looks and that the vaccine is a bad idea. Until we can get people to change that attitude, we run a risk and it is a risk not only for the unvaccinated, although they pay the highest risk, but ultimately a risk. for the rest of us. “

Zelden believes that overcoming supporters’ reluctance to the vaccine may require conservative leaders to advocate for the vaccine, including Republican lawmakers who have already protected themselves with the vaccine. He includes former President Donald Trump in this group.

“At the end of the day, those he harms are the Republican supporters, the people who choose not to get the vaccine, they pay the highest risk,” he said. “What we really need is for Republican thinkers to step up and say it’s time to get the shot.”

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In addition to another virus hampering vaccination efforts, misinformation about the vaccine continues to spread online.

Geller continues to urge residents to get vaccinated. “It’s amazing to me that we have found a miracle, a way to stop the pandemic in its tracks, and so many people refuse to do it, for political reasons, for other reasons. Get vaccinated, Protect yourself.