Only 52% of all frontline health care workers say they have received even a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to a new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Washington Post.
That leaves 48% of health care workers on the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19, including doctors, nurses, housekeepers and home health aides, entirely unprotected against and vulnerable to the virus.
Researchers surveyed more than 1,300 health care workers whose jobs expose them to patients or bodily fluids, putting them at higher risk than others of contracting COVID-19, which more than one year into the pandemic has infected nearly 30 million Americans and killed more than 500,000.
Among those health care workers who remain unvaccinated, 12% said they have not yet decided if they will accept a shot in the arm. Another 18% said they do not plan on receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, citing concerns over side effects and the vaccines' newness, according to the survey results.
Racial disparities are evident in vaccination rates among health care workers, too.
Black health care workers in particular have been reluctant to become vaccinated, with 53% of Black frontline health care workers saying they are not confident that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe. This holds steady across the general population — 47% of Black adults who are not necessarily health care workers feel similarly, according to the survey.
