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SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – In some pockets of the country, a large number of health workers have refused the COVID-19 vaccine, raising concerns about the roll-out and the prospect of hesitation about vaccination.
However, in San Diego County, available data suggests low rejection rates among frontline healthcare workers, although in some cases healthcare providers collect their numbers in a way that makes them difficult to assess.
Refusal rates among healthcare workers in some counties in southern California have garnered considerable attention in recent weeks. The director of the Orange County health agency said about 30% of health workers in that county have so far refused the vaccine. An estimated 50 percent of health care workers in Riverside County refused.
Since healthcare workers are most at risk from COVID-19 and have the highest priority for immunization, refusals to these rates could imply mistrust of the vaccine. But San Diego County health experts have warned that denial data is often more complex than it looks. The numbers may be inflated by staff who delayed the vaccine rather than outright denying it, or by employees who received vaccination elsewhere.
In some cases, health workers delay the vaccine because they have already had COVID-19.
“We don’t need to direct the vaccine to people who are theoretically already immune. So our policy has been, with the CDC, that you can defer these people for 90 days, ”said Dr. Christian Ramers, deputy medical director of San Diego Family Health Centers.
Among those who hesitate, there is a specter. A national survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation last month found that 15% of healthcare workers fell into the most skeptical category, saying they “definitely” wouldn’t get the vaccine.
“The hesitation as a whole is not one thing. It’s not an anti-vax thing, ”Dr Ramers said.
Ramers said that in his own clinic, virtually none of the frontline health workers who interact with patients have refused the vaccine. He said the number of refusals had increased among back office staff and those working from home.
Some women have expressed concern about the vaccine because they were pregnant or thought they might become pregnant, Dr Ramers said. Pregnant women were not specifically included in the Moderna or Pfizer trials, although a few participants became pregnant during the study.
Ramers said that after discussing the risks and benefits of the vaccine with staff on an one-to-one basis, many pregnant women chose to be vaccinated.
ABC 10News polled some of the largest health care providers in San Diego County.
Some vendors, like Sharp Healthcare, said they were not tracking the number of outright refusals. As of this week, Sharp said 75% of its health workers have been vaccinated. Sharp vaccinated 16,200 workers out of 19,000 employees and 2,700 affiliated physicians.
Scripps Health said it has vaccinated 67% of its workers so far, or 14,449 of its 21,559 employees and employees. The remaining 33% had not yet responded.
“A non-response can mean a number of different things, such as getting vaccinated elsewhere, wanting more information, wanting to wait longer, or be pregnant,” said Stephen Carpowich, director of public relations for Scripps.
UC San Diego Health said that of the approximately 13,000 healthcare workers who donated the vaccine, 72% had received a first dose. Only four percent had refused. Another 6 percent postponed for a variety of reasons, including vacation or pregnancy.
The remaining 18 percent either needed to be vaccinated or had not yet responded.
Health experts suspect that San Diego County’s rate of decline among healthcare workers is at low numbers.
“That’s an acceptance rate of 95.98 percent of the first healthcare workers who offered the vaccine,” said Dr Ramers. “And we are the ones who see these patients and we know how serious this disease can be.”
He said anyone who is hesitant to get the shot should talk to their doctor about their individual risk factors.
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