Starting from December 15, the first batch of coronavirus vaccinations in the United States began, and medical staff and nursing home residents across the United States became the first batch of vaccinations. On the 20th, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s Immunization Advisory Committee (ACIP) recommended that workers over 75 years old and front-line will be the next batch of vaccinated. However, chaos occurred frequently after the first vaccination work began.
Some vaccinated health workers had severe allergic reactions. Problems in the transportation of vaccines led to the scrapping of vaccines. Some state governments failed to receive a predetermined number of vaccines. At a time when the epidemic data in the United States continues to hit the public’s psychological defense line with new highs. The frequent chaos is testing people’s confidence in the vaccine distribution and even the vaccine itself.
The “vaccine game” has intensified public concerns about whether vaccines can be distributed fairly. While the ACIP has determined the order of the first three vaccination groups, the Associated Press notes that vaccine distribution and vaccination will vary from state to state in the United States regardless of the CDC providing guidance and advice. In addition, the CDC estimates that the supply of vaccines in the United States will be limited in the next few months, and it may be difficult for the United States to complete the vaccination process in a short time.
In the face of the turbulent epidemic, some big companies and rich people are using all kinds of efforts to try to get priority vaccination. The New York Times said that large businesses and organizations, including Google, Uber, Amazon, Walmart, major railroads, retailer unions, manufacturing unions, and others are trying to lobby federal, state and local governments to get a vaccine first. The Los Angeles Times has exposed many attempts to buy vaccines at a high price, and some people even consider donating $250,000 to hospitals in exchange for a dose of vaccine.
According to the New York Times, the vaccine competition will benefit the richest companies and the powerful lobby teams of the states, while smaller companies and individuals will be disadvantaged in this competition.
Minorities and low-income communities may fall into “victims” of epidemic prevention policies again. The U.S. government’s practice of using pharmacies as vaccination centers has made minorities and low-income people who have been hit harder by the epidemic “adding to injury”.
According to Politico, a US political news website, researchers worry that, just like many communities have low incomes that cannot easily access affordable high-quality fresh food and become “food deserts”, low-income communities can easily become “pharmacy deserts” because of insufficient pharmacies or distances. armacy deserts), which will make it difficult for people living in these communities to obtain vaccines.
According to a survey by the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy and the non-profit Western Center for Health Policy, more than one-third of counties in the United States can provide vaccination services at two or fewer locations. Susan Bailey, president of the American Medical Association, said that health systems need to make more efforts to ensure that minority communities that have been severely hit by the epidemic have access to enough vaccines. “We want to bring the vaccine to people, not let people find a vaccine.”
Public concerns about the safety of vaccines make vaccination itself a “prisoner’s dilemma”. In fact, due to the ineffective response of the U.S. government to the epidemic over the past nine months, the continuous political pressure on the CDC and other institutions, and the long-standing “vaccine skepticism” in Western society, the confidence of the American people in the coronavirus vaccine is seriously insufficient.
A recent Reuters poll shows that only 61% of respondents in the United States expressed their willingness to be vaccinated. Last week, there were several consecutive incidents of allergic symptoms of medical staff due to vaccination with Pfizer and problems with the cold chain system during vaccine transportation in Alabama, which further aggravated public concerns about the safety of vaccines.
A survey of local medical staff at the University of California and Los Angeles found that many medical staff were reservations about the vaccine: two-thirds of the medical staff wanted to delay or unwilling to receive the vaccination; more than half believed that pressure from the federal government had led to the development of the vaccine too hasty, giving them confidence in the vaccine. Great discount.
In this case, some people may choose to wait and see and may benefit from others because vaccinations have reduced the spread of the virus, but this “free ride” behavior will pose a threat to the whole community, “this is the prisoner’s dilemma”, said Chris Bower, a mathematical biologist at the University of Waterloo in Canada.
