Not too long ago we couldn’t get enough vaccines. Today, we can’t get enough people to take them.
In a matter of weeks, the problem facing America’s state and local governments has evolved from lack of supply to waning demand. Communities are now awash in vaccine doses, but the lines are gone and the phones have stopped ringing. Meanwhile, we’re trying new and creative ways – from incentives to public outreach campaigns -- to reach hesitant communities.
Simply put, the shot in the arm needs a “shot in the arm.”
But this isn’t a PR campaign. It’s a true story. It’s my true story.
It began in December. Like many, my family and I were looking forward to the holiday season and the promise of the new year. Our home state of Alabama had been hard hit by COVID-19, a virus that unfortunately many did not take as seriously as they should have from the start. But throughout 2020, we’d been diligent in our efforts to avoid the virus by social distancing, wearing masks and washing our hands. And it seemed to be paying off. Even as we began to hear of breakthroughs in vaccine development and the potential for widespread vaccine availability in the spring, I wasn’t 100 percent sold.
Maybe I would just wait and see. Maybe I didn’t need it. At 38, I liked my chances.
Unfortunately, before the vaccine even became available, I got COVID-19. At first it was like a cold. I resorted to my bedroom and spent Christmas day watching my children open their presents via FaceTime. Then, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Severe fever, body aches, nausea, and an inability to eat had sent me to the emergency room. For about a week, I was on my back, pretty much unable to do anything. At times, I wondered if I would make it.
Now, months later and COVID-free, I still suffer from lingering symptoms like headaches and chronic fatigue. And as the virus spreads and variants proliferate, I worry that others could face a deadlier, vaccine-resistant strain of COVID unless we act now to get as many people inoculated as possible.
Yes, this is my story. But it’s also science. And it’s alarming. More and more experts are saying that herd immunity is growing further and further out of reach. If our inoculation rates continue to plateau, SARS-CoV-2 will become a part of our lives, and sporadic outbreaks will lead to people dying every year. This is not acceptable. We have all the tools needed to stop the virus, and we must use them. Herd immunity is not some ambiguous target, it’s profoundly local, and intensely personal. It begins with individual decisions.
With some 27% of Americans still unwilling to be vaccinated, there are several root causes of vaccine hesitancy. Apprehension, misconceptions, ease of access and desire for more information are all reasons people stay at home. Thankfully, many of those are problems we can solve. In Alabama, as in many other states, mobile vaccination teams are hard at work reaching rural, isolated, or homebound populations. Local officials, led by my fellow NewDEAL Leaders, are speaking out, and need to do so to an even greater degree, presenting the facts and dispelling myths about the vaccines to the public: the vaccines won’t give you coronavirus, they do not contain a live coronavirus, are nearly 95% effective at preventing severe disease and death, and significantly hinder the virus’ ability to spread.
And yet, we cannot ignore that nearly all who refuse the vaccine do so for the same reasons we are advocating for it: to protect themselves and their families. A certain amount of caution is a fact of life, and we need to meet people where they are when it comes to the life experiences they bring to their decision. However, the decision whether to get vaccinated or not is not an individual one. Every vaccination lowers the chances of future outbreaks, renewed economic suffering, and more of our friends, family, neighbors and fellow Americans dying.
While I hope my story is enough to convince just one person to take the steps necessary to protect themselves and their community from this horrible disease, vaccine hesitancy is best addressed on an individual basis with a trusted messenger. Policymakers must empower family physicians, spiritual leaders, and others to spread accurate information about the vaccines while calling out those who do not. Philadelphia’s Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium, which was created in 2020 to address coronavirus’ disproportionate impact on African American communities, is now being cited as a national model for how effective trusted messengers can be increasing uptake in minority communities.
While this is my story, at the end of the day, it’s not about me. It’s about the future. Unless more Americans get vaccinated soon, the ripple effects of this virus may continue for a generation. Whether we succeed in this effort won’t come down to President Biden or Dr. Fauci, but rather to millions of conversations happening around millions of family dinner tables. If you know people in your community who are skeptical of the vaccine, reach out to them. Do it for your family, for your friends, for your country. The shots are safe. They work. They are the only way forward.
State Rep. Anthony Daniels, of Huntsville, is the Alabama House Minority Leader in the Alabama Legislature.