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They have been warned, ridiculed, cajoled, induced, even threatened in some cases, but they still resist the idea of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
They heard public health announcements and ignored incentive programs, and some protested against vaccination warrants.
These are the calculated unvaccinated from Nevada, and their reasons for avoiding the shot are almost as varied as the coronavirus itself. Some people worry about long term side effects. Others say the vaccination warrants unlawfully violate their constitutional rights as Americans or are part of an evil government conspiracy. Still others don’t think the vaccines work or think they will make them sicker than the disease would.
Related: Kernels of truth mixed with bad information prevent many vaccines
Then there are those who see signs of a government plot in the campaign to vaccinate more members of the public.
To learn more about their views and concerns, the Review-Journal spoke to a dozen unvaccinated Nevadans about their decisions to forgo preventive action in a state that is well behind the nation for this. who is getting shot. As of Friday, 62.97% of Nevadans aged 12 and older had received at least one vaccine against COVID-19, about 10 points below the national average.
Here is some of what they told us.
“I will use them as test dummies”
For Brooks Slater, a car buyer in Las Vegas, the accelerated testing before federal approval of three emergency COVID-19 vaccines is the deciding factor.
“I know several people who have received the vaccine, so I will be using them as test dummies,” he said.
He doesn’t rule out getting the vaccine but says it won’t happen for at least five years.
“I’ll see how it affects them in three, four, five years,” he said. “If they start growing an eleventh toe or have another head sticking out of their neck, I’ll know it’s not safe to take.”
The same goes for other members of his family, including his father, who works in Mandalay Bay and expects to be fired when an MGM vaccine mandate for employees goes into effect next month.
What if he wanted to go to an event that required shots, like a Raiders game?
“I’m going to get a fake vaccine card,” Slater said. “If every company starts demanding that you have a vaccine, I won’t have a choice. And I’ll be prepared to take all the repercussions, because I won’t get the vaccine at all. “
Many claims made by unvaccinated Nevadans do not match scientific evidence or expert opinion.
Dr Bayo Curry-Winchell, medical director of urgent care at Saint Mary’s in Reno, warns people should not believe everything they read online about COVID-19 and vaccines.
“I really encourage people to reach out and find specific information from a trusted source,” she said. “And for those who are still not sure, find someone who can answer your questions and discuss the reasons why you are not sure. And be open to a different thought process after this conversation, because that’s how we educate ourselves. “
Prices vary according to demographics
State data provides insight into the identity of the calculated unvaccinated.
Vaccination rates vary widely from county to county, ranging from a high of 63.06% in Carson City to a low of 17.96% in Storey County. Most of the counties on the lower end of the spectrum are rural, with the counties of Carson City, Clark and Washoe having the highest rates in the state.
State data also shows that black and Native American citizens are the least likely to be vaccinated, with only 6.1% of the former and 0.6% of the latter having started the vaccination.
Age is also a determining factor. More than 86 percent of Nevadans aged 70 and older have started immunizations, according to state data, by far the highest level among age-based demographic groups.
Less than half of those 20-29 year olds received their first injection, and that number is even lower among 10-19 year olds, a group that includes some children who are not yet eligible.
Vanessa Rivas, 19, is one of the 10-19 year olds.
She said her reasons for not getting the vaccine are twofold: She doesn’t feel vaccines work well to prevent COVID-19, and she also has friends who are “very sick” after receiving the vaccine.
“My friend, he just got COVID and he was vaccinated, and so the vaccine, I don’t feel like he’s doing enough,” she said. “I feel like there’s something else, a better vaccine that they could come out with that doesn’t have to be forced on people. It would make me more comfortable if everyone was more willing to go get it.
As businesses and government agencies like the Clark County School District have considered and implemented vaccination mandates for employees, enemies of these policies have taken to the streets in recent weeks to forcefully express their opposition, including a large rally this week on the Strip and at a School Board Meeting on September 1, when hundreds of people showed up at the Clark County Government Center to forcefully oppose a vaccination warrant
Among the protesters was Angel Rivera, who gathered the crowd outside with a microphone and portable speaker.
“It’s our choice”
Rivera later said he was waiting, like Slater, for more information on the “side effects” of the vaccine. He doesn’t mind if other people get it, but says it should be his personal choice.
“Like the mask thing, for example,” he said. “If you want to wear a mask, wear a mask. I am not an anti-masker. I bring a mask, especially when I have to use the public restroom. “
Rivera spoke alongside Mario Izzo, who said he had not received any vaccines since he was old enough to decide for himself. He said he would not receive the COVID-19 vaccine under any circumstances.
“I have everything I need,” he said, showing his chest and apparently signaling his addiction to his body’s immune system.
Other protesters had different concerns.
Nikki Settles-Spilotro said she quit her job as a private school teacher because she believed her school would adopt a vaccination mandate in the near future.
Holding a sign saying ‘Follow the real science’, she said she opposes vaccination in general because her son has autism, which she says is the result of a vaccination he received. when he was little.
She hopes to resume teaching, but not if she needs to be vaccinated.
“There are a multitude of reasons,” she says. “And it’s not just, you know, I’m just anti-vax. Because if you are healthy, maybe this is a choice you want for you and your body. And it is your choice. So I’m not here to say, ‘Go home’ and ‘You’re the devil’ or whatever, I’m just here to say, ‘Hey, this is our choice!’ “
Some protesters have also voiced opposition to the state’s mandate to wear face masks in crowded indoor spaces, arguing that it should also be a matter of choice.
This week’s Strip event was followed by a small protest on the Siena campus of the Dominican St. Rose Hospital, which included a handful of healthcare workers. Many people have said that they also want more information about the vaccine, especially what it actually contains.
Natalie Cortez, a CNA nursing student at the St. Rose Dominican campus in Siena and single mother of two, said she believed “there should be a minimum testing period of three years” for vaccines and doesn’t think anyone’s job should be on the line on what she called a personal medical decision.
“I don’t want to fix what’s not broken”
“I know the virus is real, but I don’t want it in my body,” she said. “I don’t want to fix what’s not broken.”
A growing number of government agencies and businesses in the Las Vegas Valley have recently demanded the vaccination of their workers, although the executive orders have yet to come into effect. In some cases, including the Clark County School District, many employees threatened to resign during tenure.
Other agencies, including the Metropolitan Police Department, have said they will require all new employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, but will not require it for current workers.
Slater, the car’s buyer, said his company, which he declined to name, instituted the opposite policy: it will not hire anyone who has been vaccinated, he said.
On August 16, the Raiders became the first NFL team to announce that they would require all game participants to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Unvaccinated people can be vaccinated for the first time at a pop-up clinic outside the stadium, and then must wear a mask until they are fully vaccinated.
This led to a handful of fans deciding to hand over their season tickets. Pasquale Buonsante, who has Raiders subscriptions, was among them. Buonsante said he was “proud” not to be vaccinated and believes the Raiders have implemented the policy as part of a “deeper program”.
“I believe it’s a setup for something bigger,” he said, declining to elaborate. “I think they want people to get sick, that’s why they say ‘go and vaccinate and don’t wear a mask.’ Well, not that long ago, they announced that people vaccinated had to wearing the mask, so they’re sort of contradicting each other.
Contact Jonah Dylan at [email protected]. To follow @TheJonahDylan on Twitter. Review-Journal editors Alexis Ford, Rachel Aston, and Mathew Miranda contributed to this report.
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