Keep Pressing Patients to Get the COVID-19 Vaccine—Your Efforts Are Paying Off

If you’re among the many urgent care providers who encourage patients to receive the COVID-19 vaccine or try to educate patients who have concerns about the shot, those efforts seem to be making a dent in people’s attitudes. The percentage of Americans who have either gotten at least one dose of the vaccine or who now plan to is growing, according to new data released by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The biggest jump was seen in African-American respondents, among whom 55% plan to get vaccinated—up 14% from data collected a month earlier. The flipside of this good news is that 13% of all respondents still say they will “definitely not” be getting vaccinated. The survey indicates that certain rationale are especially effective in convincing people that getting a COVID-19 shot is a good idea; helping them understand that the vaccines’ efficacy is high and that a concrete benefit is lowering risk for hospitalization and death was seen as especially meaningful. The most common reason for refusing to consider the vaccine, cited by 17% of the “definitely not” group, was that the vaccines are too new to be trusted. The survey of 1,862 adults was conducted between March 15 and March 22, 2021.