I’ve read numerous articles about the high number of health care workers and front line employees who are declining the vaccination . For example, about 60% of nursing home employees in Ohio have turned it down. At one hospital in Chicago it was closer to 70%.
Reasons are lack of faith in the government proclamation that the vaccine is safe and a fear of potential side effects.
I for one think private colleges will be able to make vaccination mandatory. Unsure of publics.
From the middle of this page (around figure 11) to the end are survey results about the reasons for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.
I have colleagues at work with college age kids. Two of them told their parents that they refuse to take this vaccine. I don’t think this is common, but it’s definitely out there. I guess they will have to decide what to do if it becomes mandated by their school.
Well, I guess my point is then - why do we wait for these people? Once there are vaccines that are sitting on the shelves and not moving, then I hope it’s time to open up more.
If schools go back and people get Covid, then I’m sure their doctors will ask them “did you get vaccinated?” If not, and they don’t have a medical reason why, then it’s on them. I’m sorry I’m just feeling testy today. We have an answer here. Take it.
I agree that the only way out of this is by taking the vaccine. I got my first dose, and both of my kids have been fully vaccinated (they are in a priority group). There are people out there who don’t agree,.
Right now we cannot even vaccine those who want to get it. i think some of the young people are thinking “why take a new vaccine, when if I get covid, it wont get very sick”. if those at high risk are all vaccinated , and all those who want to be, then we should be able to get back to business as usual over time. Not everyone take the Flu shot and until Covid came around, that was a personal choice. And yes, Flu was around every year and did kill some very small percentage. We will get there with Covid. But its ridiculous to Force vaccines on current students without an alternative (remote/online). To say starting with the class of XXXX the covid vaccine will be part of the requirements gives a choice to whether you want to apply to that school or not. I am not antivax at all, but I know there are many out there that are not in a rush to get the vaccine until there is more data about it. By the fall they would not have been in use for even a year.
I’m in a testy mood today too (on another snowy day where my kids are just virtual as usual). I feel like the pandemic is one crazy social experiment, with the notion of individual liberties/freedoms pitted against the larger/societal good. Not just with the vaccines - all of it - masking, social gatherings, opening businesses, mandatory testing, etc. In many situations, there may be no bright line as to what side is 100% right or wrong and people don’t consistently fall into one side or the other. Does the experiment ever end and do we ever truly get out of this? I don’t know and feel pessimistic at times.
There seems to be a lot of speculation about how long antibodies last in people who have had Covid…4 months, 6 months, longer? What happens if the vaccine produces antibodies that wane after 6 months or so. People who received it in Dec/Jan will need a new one starting in June when some people won’t even have their first vaccine. Has there been any information about how long the “immunity” conferred by the vaccine actually lasts?
About 1/3 of some portion of soldiers- I know my husband hasn’t been offered a vaccine and would jump at the opportunity. That number isn’t fully representative.
The strength of immune response apparently vary from person to person. The current estimate is at least 6-12 months, but no one knows for certain at this point.
The University of Michigan is experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases, MLivereported.
For the week of Feb. 7, the university saw 352 cases, its highest in a single week since the pandemic started.
Officials blame off-campus social activities. "Students are largely infecting other students,” said Robert Ernst, executive director of University Health Services.
Pitt is still doing well. 12 students currently in isolation. They are starting to open up more facilities on campus.
Impressive, especially for such a big school. Williams has 17 students in isolation (not terrible, but it’s so much smaller than Pitt).
Williams tested everyone. Did Pitt?
Good point.
But I thought the reason for caution about ‘in person’ instruction was to protect the Professors and elderly family? (That has been the tenor of many on this thread) I recall a study last Fall that looked at a group of major universities. The combined number of cases for all the schools was 11,000 students. In that group, the hospitalization rate (indication of more serious symptoms) was 0.
The vaccine will not be 100%. There was a report this week of someone testing positive even though they have both doses. I have little confidence in Fauci’s proclamations. They seem to change with the wind. He presented at a conference I was at in Jan '20 and said the infection rate would be ~10% and a mortality rate of 3-4% (Somewhere between SARS and MERS). He also said there would be little impact on the US due to COVID at this same conference.
Vaccination rates will be in the range of 70% overall, probably. We do not know what it will take to achieve herd immunity. There are guesses, but we do not know for sure. I am of the mind that we all need to learn to live with the virus. What damage is being done to the mental health of many due to the lockdowns? I am against potentially causing more harm.
No, Pitt does not test everyone all the time like smaller schools do. They required a negative test for students returning to the dorms last month. They do sample surveillance testing. Other than that, testing is limited to symptomatic students who request a test and contact tracing. This means that they probably are not catching some asymptomatic cases, but this is the same process they followed in the fall and the numbers went way up after Halloween and stayed that way until students went home at Thanksgiving, so the numbers do reflect what is happening in the population, even if they don’t catch everyone.
Some colleges see testing as a way to stop a giant wave of Covid on campus but others test so much that their goal is zero cases. It will be interesting to see what those schools do that test two-three times a week now and shooting for no cases. I expect they will be the ones who mandate vaccines if they can.
Right. So we cannot compare them to Williams. That was really my only point. They would find more cases if they tested everyone three times a week.
Probably the case. In my mind, vaccination will help schools reduce or eliminate the testing burden. They are eating a huge cost right now for all those tests.
I am definitely in favor of as many as possible getting the vaccine. In my opinion, it is the best long term solution to minimizing the impact of the virus.
I do wonder at how many “trust the science” people are against getting the vaccine.