Not enough people will take a coronavirus vaccine if the government doesn’t do a better job addressing their fears head-on, health researchers say.
One in 5 people in the United States say they would refuse a coronavirus vaccine, and 31% were uncertain about it, according to a poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. This means only half the public would get the vaccine when it came out.
Consistent messaging from all officials and transparency are needed to win the public’s trust, said Dr. Michael Kinch, professor of oncology at Washington University in St. Louis and director of the Center for Drug Discovery. “We need a consistent set of messaging from the very top down to the local physician that is talking with people,” Kinch said.
Some believe the public also needs to know how a vaccine is developed and approved in order to be comfortable with it.
“I think being transparent about the research and conveying the research in a way lay people can understand will go a long way in making people feel comfortable about getting a vaccine,” UCLA epidemiologist Dr. Timothy Brewer told the Washington Examiner.
“I think it is important for the federal officials who are doing the vaccine to explain the review to the public,” said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, vice dean for public health practice and community engagement for the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Health officials should start talking about the vaccine now and answer people’s questions, he said.
Some cite the speed at which the coronavirus vaccine is being made as a cause for their hesitation. While normal vaccines take over a decade to be approved, the Trump administration’s goal is much shorter. Originally, it was to have a vaccine in 2021, but President Trump is optimistic a vaccine will be ready by the end of this year.
“A lot of the messaging around coronavirus vaccine development has been about trying to get the vaccine out as quickly as possible. While that is good, I think it does raise some concerns among people who are normally willing to take vaccines,” Brewer said. “The emphasis on getting the vaccine out quickly has led to concern about potentially cutting corners.”
It is concerning that politics could put unnecessary pressure on the FDA to approve a vaccine before the election, Kinch told the Washington Examiner. “We need to make sure that we don’t do such a thing only from the perspective that we don’t want to compromise the FDA, which has really a phenomenal track record of approving safe and effective vaccines.”
Skepticism is particularly high among minority groups. According to a poll conducted by researchers at the University of Miami, the statement “the coronavirus is being used to force a dangerous and unnecessary vaccine on Americans” is believed by 22% of white and Latino respondents and 44% of black respondents.
Most people who are willing to help test vaccines are white, young, and wealthy. It is much more difficult and costly to ensure that minorities are enrolled in tests, according to BioSpace, a life sciences industry publication.
“I think one thing public officials can do is try to meet with opinion leaders in the different communities, whether that’s a Latinx community or the African American community and really try to understand what are the concerns,” Brewer said.
Although a vaccine would benefit minority communities the most due to their higher death rates from the coronavirus, they have a historical precedent to be skeptical of vaccines.
A notable example is that of the Tuskegee syphilis study, in which public health officials tracked 600 black men who had syphilis for 40 years, from 1932-1972, and refused to tell them what their diagnosis was or treat them for the illness.
“Those kinds of stories have stayed in the lore in African American communities, and understandably, now, they are very hesitant, shy, or not wanting to participate in clinical trials or as early users or adopters of medicines,” Kinch said. “This can only be combated with that transparency idea.”
There is some concern that politics might also affect how people decide if they will get the vaccine.
“My fear for a vaccine is that if it is approved under a Trump administration, it will be rejected by those who don’t agree with Trump, and if it is approved under a Biden administration, it might not be taken by those who don’t trust Biden,” Kinch said.