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Survey: Nearly half of healthcare workers have not received a COVID-19 vaccine

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Posted at 9:48 PM, Mar 20, 2021
and last updated 2021-03-21 14:49:17-04

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A survey found that nearly half of all healthcare workers in the United States have not received a COVID-19 vaccine.

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The survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Washington Post found 52% of surveyed American frontline healthcare workers have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. This means 48% of those workers did not.

Most who got a vaccine worked in hospitals and outpatient clinics, and Dr. Constantine George attributes that to the ease of access.

“If you have caregivers and outpatients in group homes, they don’t have access to the vaccine as easily,” says Dr. George.

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Dr. Constantine says the survey results aren’t shocking as it’s not uncommon for folks in the medical field to be skeptical of something new and question if it works.

“It’s a matter of educating the healthcare community about the vaccines and the variety of it out there,” says Dr. George. “It’s a matter of having a lot more information, we crave knowledge, we want details to prove to ourselves that this vaccine is effective.”

The survey also found that less than half of Black and Hispanic frontline healthcare workers have reported that they’ve received a shot, compared to six in ten white healthcare workers.

Dr. Constantine hopes more data will create more trust for those who have not yet gotten a vaccine in the healthcare world.

“Hopefully that spills into the general non-medical community,” says Dr. George

A separate survey done by Immunize Nevada last yearright before vaccines became available found that almost 80% of healthcare workers in the state would get the vaccine, and that same amount would recommend the vaccine to their patients.