Some people in Missouri get vaccinated against Covid-19 in secret for fear of reactions from loved ones who oppose vaccines, doctor says

by



[ad_1]

“They had an experience that kind of changed their minds from the perspective of family members, friends or work. And they themselves decided that they wanted to get the vaccine,” he said. said Dr Priscilla Frase, hospitalist and medical information manager at Ozarks Healthcare in West Plains, Missouri.

“They did their own research on it, they talked to people and made the decisions themselves,” Frase told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “But even if they were able to make that decision on their own, they didn’t want to have to deal with peer pressure or other people’s outbursts about them…” give in to everything. “”

In a video produced by a hospital, Frase said that a pharmacist at his hospital told him “that they brought in several people for vaccinations who tried to disguise their appearance and even went so far as to say: “Please, please don’t let anyone know that I got this vaccine. ‘”

Frase told CNN that if a patient requests confidentiality to get the shot, the hospital tries to meet the demand – whether it’s at the drive-thru window or in their car.

“Anything we can do to make people comfortable receiving the vaccine,” Frase said. “It’s not a large number, but every person we can reach who wants to get vaccinated and we can provide them is a victory. And we take every victory we can get.”

Missouri has 41% of its population fully vaccinated against Covid-19, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state is one of 49 in the United States to experience at least a 10% increase in new cases of Covid-19 over the past week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Unvaccinated patients get sick faster

Frase said her hospital had 33 patients admitted with Covid-19 on Wednesday and she expects that number to increase.

“The patients who arrive are generally younger than what we’ve seen before. They’re more people who need a lot more oxygen, a lot faster,” Frase said.

St. Louis County Council votes to quash county executive mask mandate

“The majority of the people we admitted were not vaccinated,” she added.

“The most shocking thing for us, I think, is that in the fall, in the winter, it took us four months to reach our peak of admitted patients, which is around 22. It took us 30 days to get past that and be up to 33 today. ” said Frase.

And it’s not just Frase Hospital that is facing an influx of patients in Missouri.

CoxHealth’s health system said it was increasing the capacity of the morgue due to an increase in Covid-19-related deaths.

“We actually brought in wearable technology that allows bodies to cool down and place them outside the mortuary. We had to expand that because mortality has increased so much lately,” said Steve Edwards, president. and CEO of CoxHealth. Springfield-Greene County media briefing on Tuesday.

CNN’s Raja Razek and Jennifer Feldman contributed to this report.

[ad_2]

Source link