COVID anti-vaccer rejects vaccine despite evidence: Shot

West Hansen’s role is to inform people of government interests and accessible services, including the coronavirus vaccine. However, many of his clients do not trust the needle.

John Burnet / NPR

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John Burnet / NPR

West Hansen’s role is to inform people of government interests and accessible services, including the coronavirus vaccine. However, many of his clients do not trust the needle.

John Burnet / NPR

West Hansen steers a muddy Subaru through the industrial landscape of southeastern Texas where he grew up. He passed the silver industrial tower of the Bible church, donut shop and refinery. His longtime social worker says he has given up trying to explain to clients how safe the COVID-19 vaccine is.

“I’m sick of it,” he says. “When I made up my mind, I realized that no one was convincing.”

He pulls Donna and Danny Downs into a neatly appointed garden in a townhouse waiting for him in their living room. She is a home manager for a fence contractor. He is a legally blind retired insurance salesman. They are devout Baptists.

“We don’t like vaccines because we feel we are living healthy … we have more immunity,” she says. “And if we get it, it feels like God’s will, so we just put it in God’s hands.” The virus kills Donna’s sister and hospitalizes her husband. Sent to, but they continue to oppose getting their shots.

“We think it’s big government that they’re trying to control the people,” says Danny.

About 66% of Americans are fully vaccinated. However, as the number of deaths from COVID-19 approaches one million in the United States, viral mortality is primarily caused by unvaccinated people. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nationwide About 1 in 6 Americans According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, they “will definitely not be vaccinated.”

“One of the things that is really consistent in all our research is the size of the group that they say they are absolutely unvaccinated,” said KFF’s Vice President and Director of Public Policy and Research. Liz Hamel says. “It hasn’t shifted for over a year.”

“It was definitely Republicans, rural people, and white evangelical Christians who were most likely not to be vaccinated,” she says.

According to Kaiser survey data, 20% of those who say they will never be vaccinated identify themselves as Democrats or politically independent, and 28% live in cities or suburbs.

Hansen, a 60-year-old social worker who has done this job for almost half of his life, says his clients are often elderly people in need of assistance in their daily lives. His role is to inform them about the government benefits and services they have available, including free vaccines.

“This resistance to getting the vaccine is flying in the face of the fact that the family died of COVID,” he says. “They openly say,’Yes, my brother died of COVID’ or’my mother died of COVID’.

On another phone call that day, Hansen parks in front of a fragile house on the edge of a wooded dirt road. The room is full of cats and littered with garbage. The couple in bathrobes are lying in reclining chairs waiting for him in front of the TV.

A 57-year-old retired graphic designer named Fay has been urged not to use her surname because she suffered a stroke last year and wants medical privacy.

“Yes, we have been vaccinated against polio for many years and it worked,” she says. “The measles vaccines worked, but I don’t know how long it took to vaccinate them … I felt the vaccination came out too early after the COVID hit.”

Fay says he laid up for a stroke last October. She was hospitalized earlier this year due to complications from COVID.

“A few months later, I find that people are still infected with COVID after being vaccinated. So what’s the point? I don’t believe in vaccination. It scares me. It’s too much, “she says.

Later in the week, Hansen will visit retired teachers and truck drivers Betty and Mike Spencer, who live near the San Marcos River in central Texas. Spencer frankly admits that they believe in conspiracy theories. Mike looks at Alex Jones’ Infowars and says he doesn’t trust the accepted story of the September 11th Kennedy assassination and terrorist attack.

“As you know, some people say that the only difference between conspiracy theory and truth is 6 to 8 months,” he says with a bitter smile.

Regarding vaccines, Mike says he thinks it was designed as a “population decline tool.”

“I think there’s something malicious about nanotechnology, transhumanism, and the Internet of Things making people up. Ultimately, with 6G coming after 5G, the Internet is always there. Biologically tuned to, “he says.

As a record, the COVID-19 vaccine is FDA approved and recommended by the CDC because it is safe and effective in preventing serious or fatal cases of the virus.

Not all Hansen’s clients do not trust the needle. Elizabeth Yar is a 78-year-old retired beautician who has been vaccinated. When her social worker arrives, she spreads to her lazy boy watching TV with her family.

“I saw too many people dying from COVID, so it seems silly not to want to get vaccinated,” she emphasizes.

Partisanship and political ideology play a far greater role than scientific evidence in vaccination decisions, according to recent data from KFF’s COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor. The survey states that 56% of Republicans and 92% of Democrats have been vaccinated. All unvaccinated individuals quoted in this story say they voted for the Republican Party in the last election. In the era of pandemics, false information about vaccines is widespread. As more and more people distrust mainstream media and choose their own source of truth, In another KFF report.

“That is, they are mainstream,” says retired graphic designer Faye. “They’re going to say what the government wants them to say. I’m not an idiot.”

When asked where she gets the news, Donna Downs says, “I haven’t actually watched the news broadcast.” “I’ve done a lot of research and trusted people feel the same as I do. I follow it.”

When the vaccine became available a year ago, Hansen considered the vaccine a godsend because many of his clients were old and had pre-existing medical conditions. But as vaccines became more and more politicized, he saw clients rejecting them one by one.

“It’s just shocking,” says Hansen. “That is, you reach out to the drowning man, they beat it, and they suspect you can pull them to the shore. It’s very embarrassing. “

Hansen’s frustration is consistent with director Kenneth Coleman’s frustration. Beaumont Public Health Service.. In Beaumont’s largest city, Jefferson County, more than half of the population is fully vaccinated, lagging behind states and countries, he says. His office has begged people to get vaccinated.

“Beaumont is not that big a city,” says Coleman. “So nowhere in Beaumont. For those who want it, they have it, and for those who don’t, they have it. ) I just don’t want it. “

Coleman says he hasn’t seen anyone in this sector who opposes common-sense health habits for 30 years. Today, he is worried about not only another deadly variant of COVID, but also a fundamental loss of confidence in public health services.

What do you think he will do if measles, meningitis, or tuberculosis develops?

“I have calls from people,” he continues. “‘Well, I don’t trust anything the CDC says,'” I say. Public health Bible. “”