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About our “The COVID-19 Crisis” series
The snow is melting in my backyard, daylight savings time will be here this weekend, and the information on vaccines continues to be very positive.
About 60 million Americans have gotten at least one vaccine, and over 32 million have gotten both doses. Four million of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine have already been shipped, dramatically simplifying vaccination efforts. The Biden Administration has announced that it will have shipped enough vaccine to fully vaccinate all adults in the U.S. by the end of May; this makes it more likely that we’ll see a return to more normality this summer.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced new rules for those who are fully vaccinated. These guidelines say that small indoor gatherings without masks are acceptable for those who are fully vaccinated, and can include low risk household members, including children even if they are unvaccinated. This reflects our increasing confidence that those who are vaccinated are far less likely to spread the coronavirus. I’m confident that realistic changes in guidance like this will help accelerate interest in vaccines, which will continue to prevent illness and death.
We can only halt the medical and the economic devastation with continued adherence to public health measures and more vaccination. Being sure that public health recommendations are not overbearing helps increase public confidence.
We should recognize, though, that we are not entirely through with this pandemic.
We continue to have dramatic racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 vaccination rates — and getting high vaccination rates in every community helps to protect us all. Chicago has shown us that we can overcome these disparities. This (majority minority) city went from 18% of its vaccines going to Black and Hispanic people to 51% going to Black and Hispanic people over just a few weeks — but it took leadership, tough decisions and perseverance. Improvements require community partnerships, outreach and making vaccines easily available in familiar locations during non-business hours.
We also have not seen a drop in the rate of new infections in the U.S. in the last month. We’ve been at a bit over 60,000 new cases a day for four weeks. This could be due to increasing prevalence of variants (the B.1.1.117 variant represents about a quarter of infections in the U.S. now), or it could be due to decreased attention to distancing and mask wearing by people who mistakenly believe that the risk is lower than it really is. The end of the pandemic is in sight — but we’ll get there soonest by maintaining our vigilance. The vaccines will save the most lives if there is the lowest level of community spread.
Daily reported numbers peaked at 314,172 on January 8, 2021. As of March 4, 2021, they were at 57,586.
Source: CDC
I’ve been using graphics from the COVID-19 Tracking Project since the spring. This amazing volunteer effort to collect vast quantities of data across 50 states is winding down. The good news is that the CDC has ramped up its public reporting — so we’ll continue to have good information going forward, though the graphics will change. This last graphic from COVID-19 Tracking Project also shows dramatic improvement since January and demonstrates that the decline in new cases stalled through February.
Metrics reflect the COVID-19 Tracking Project’s final data collections.
Source: COVID-19 Tracking Project
How to reduce vaccine hesitancy
Jessica Jones (H&B), Julie Noblick(C&CM) and I had an article published by Harvard Business Review last week on using behavioral economics to nudge employees to get vaccinated. In the article we cover 12 strategies organizations can use to get more people vaccinated, including:
- Emphasizing stories over statistics
- Focusing on immediate, rather than long-term benefits
- Stressing the necessity of vaccination for nonwork activities
- Protecting employees from loss associated with vaccination
For all 12 strategies, read How Employers Can Reduce Vaccine Hesitancy in its entirety.
Author
Jeff is an internal medicine physician and has led WTW’s clinical response to COVID-19 and other health-related topics. He has served in leadership roles in provider organizations and a health plan and is an Assistant Professor at Harvard Chan School of Public Health.
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