Nov 26, 2020,08:00am EST Bruce Japsen Senior Contributor
U.S. interest in taking a vaccine
against Covid-19 continues to rise, according to public opinion polls ahead of
a major push by employers and drugstore chains to educate Americans on the
vaccination rollout.
The news is good as Covid-19 vaccines
made by Pfizer and Moderna have shown to be greater than 90% effective in late
stage clinical trials as they near emergency use authorizations from the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration. Given the effectiveness and safety of Covid-19
vaccines is far better than researchers expected, the worry of vaccine
hesitancy may be slowly subsiding.
A Gallup poll last week showed 58% of
Americans say they would get a Covid-19 vaccine, which is up from a “a low of
50% in September,” the pollster’s analysis showed. “The 42% of U.S. adults
saying they would not get a vaccine is down from 50% in
September, but still indicative of significant challenges ahead for public
health and government officials in achieving mass public compliance with
vaccine recommendations,” Gallup’s RJ
Reinhart wrote in his analysis.
But employers are beginning to
educate their workers about vaccines and are hearing anticipation is building
from employees who want to be vaccinated once shots against the Covid-19 virus
are available, employee benefit consultants say.
"Anecdotally, our U.S. health
care clients relay tremendous interest in the vaccine and we hear that
employees are generally expressing willingness to be vaccinated, if not already
participating in trials conducted at many facilities,” says Gisele Norris,
managing director and co-leader of Aon's COVID-19 Task Force. “However, there
are mixed views toward requiring employees to be vaccinated."
Meanwhile, large drugstore chains
have already begun marketing their ability to provide Covid-19 vaccines and
also plan to eventually include public health education to ensure their
customers know the safety and efficacy benefits of taking a vaccine.
Walgreens just
last week sent an e-mail to customers saying they plan to
expand access to vaccines through Walgreens “more than 9,000 stores in 2021.”
Walgreens communication to customers
follows an e-mail rival CVS Health sent to customers earlier this month letting
them know the U.S. “will make a supply of the Covid-19 vaccine available to CVS
Health when authorized and available to administer in pharmacies nationwide,”
CVS said. “We will offer it to the public through our 10,000 locations,
following established vaccine prioritization guidelines.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration
is expected to issue emergency use authorizations for vaccines made by Pfizer
and Moderna sometime next month, setting the stage for distribution to begin.
Studies of safety and effectiveness
data of these vaccines as well as others in final-stage clinical trials will
continue even after the emergency authorizations. And that could also help
increase support among Americans for Covid-19 vaccines.
“A longer period of development and
clinical testing may help to address three of the four most common reasons for
hesitancy among those who are unwilling” to take them, Gallup’s analysis
showed.
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