Overcoming vaccination hesitancy is the next challenge in Anne Arundel’s virus fight

Vaccines continue to flow out through clinics and mass vaccination sites, pharmacies and soon physicians’ offices.

While there is room to debate whether the vaccination effort in Maryland could be better managed, one thing is clearly the next problem public health officials and elected leaders must address.

How do you overcome vaccine hesitancy?

In its spring survey of local opinions on a range of topics, Anne Arundel Community College, 19% have doubts about whether vaccines being distributed are safe.

Not surprisingly, more Republicans than Democrats are vaccine skeptics, with 36% of those who responded and identified themselves as members of the GOP indicating they did not want the vaccine compared to just 6% of Democrats.

That’s somewhat better but broadly matches up with recent national polls, which have shown as much as a third of the U.S. population is skeptical about getting the Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

The numbers should be worrisome, but also a clear indicator of the work ahead.

Ending the pandemic will require getting 70 to 90% of the population either vaccinated or immune through exposure, although there currently is no conclusive evidence on how long immunity lasts from exposure recovery.

Certainly, as more people get the vaccine, and federal and local officials are now hoping to get beyond the tipping point by July, more people will see the vaccines are safe.

The federal government has its own messaging campaign aimed at people who hold weakly held doubts, featuring trusted messengers like Dr. Anthony Fauci. Will it be enough? Probably not.

The message so far from Maryland and Anne Arundel County has been disjointed, often tied down in bickering over decision making. That lack of a unified front is undoubtedly contributing to the loss of confidence in Gov. Larry Hogan and County Executive Steuart Pittman, a decline also confirmed by the community college survey.

Convincing skeptics will take a variety of messages from a variety of sources.

First, it has to become the neutral choice to get the vaccine. That will require making registering and getting the shots easy to accomplish and information on safety universally distributed. We’re not there yet.

Second, the message on overcoming the vaccine has to be tailored to specific audiences with doubts.

A Black Democrat and a white Republican might both have reservations about the honesty of government and news media messages on public health, yet their reasons will be different. Addressing them can’t be a one-size-fits-all campaign.

For those doubting Republicans, a convincing argument might be about the need to get the vaccine to get the economy moving again. That could come from employers who encourage or help their workforce get the shots so normal operations can resume.

For members of the Black community, it may be more important to hear about the need to accept the vaccine from trusted sources with roots in communities.

Community clinics being organized through Black clergy members and their congregations in this county are one example of how this is being approached. Historically Black Colleges and Universities such as Bowie State, Morgan State and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore might also have a role to play.

Third, the message has to reach beyond barriers such as language. Bilingual messages, like the one underway now in the Hispanic / Latino community of Annapolis, will be key to getting vaccinations accomplished there.

Finally, there has to be an end to vaccine shaming. Sign up and go when you’re called is the mantra from all sources.

As a community, a state and a nation, we can overcome vaccine hesitancy. But it will take leadership from both the public and private sector leaders, and determination from the rest of us.