Voices of vaccine hesitancy

April 12, 2021
Congress is heading back to work—and we’ve relaunched the I AM BIO Podcast with an important episode featuring real people explaining what’s behind vaccine hesitancy. We also look at Biden administration actions last week to promote the development of SAF—including a…
BIO

Congress is heading back to work—and we’ve relaunched the I AM BIO Podcast with an important episode featuring real people explaining what’s behind vaccine hesitancy. We also look at Biden administration actions last week to promote the development of SAF—including a couple things recommended by BIO. (775 words, 3 minutes, 52 seconds)

 

Voices of vaccine hesitancy

 
 

It’s the biggest vaccination campaign in American history—but not everyone’s on board. Phyllis Arthur, BIO’s VP of Infectious Diseases and Emerging Science, investigates why in a series of interviews for the just-relaunched I AM BIO Podcast.

Enthusiasm for getting a COVID-19 vaccine is growing,as we recently reported—but around 37% of Americans are uncertain or say they don’t want the vaccine, including larger shares in minority, low-income, and rural communities.

Resistance is “more layered than you would think,” explains Phyllis. “Reluctance is based on everything from not enough information, to too much information, to distrust in institutions, to questions about the speed and long-term effects, to limited access in certain communities.” 

Information “overload” is part of the problem, says Angel, a fitness instructor from Maryland. 

“Being African American, I also question why it also felt like they were pushing it on the African American community as well as the less fortunate,” Angel adds. “It actually made me a little more apprehensive to taking it.”

To understand vaccine hesitancy in the Black community, we have to look at history—and the “very legitimate and deeply held distrust” that goes back to slavery, Jim Crow, and Tuskeegee, explains Dr. Reed Tuckson, founder of the Black Coalition Against COVID-19 and former D.C. Commissioner of Public Health. 

Read: From Tuskegee to COVID 

But thanks in part to outreach by “trusted voices” like health professionals and clergy, we’re seeing this turn around. A few months ago, 60-70% of Black Americans were saying “no” to the shot, but now 70% would get the vaccine or consider it “if they could get access to more factual information,” he says. 

The episode also highlights why we need to make science (and vaccine appointments) more accessible—and why science education is critical to preparing for the next pandemic.

Listen to the whole thing at www.bio.org/podcast or wherever you get your podcast fix, including AppleGoogle, or Spotify.  

Do you have questions about the vaccines? Visit www.COVIDVaccineFacts.org.

ICYMI: Last week was National Public Health Week, with the theme “Building Bridges to Better Health.” Here’s a great blog post from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) about the importance of partnerships in achieving health equity and optimal health for all.


More Health Care News:

Chemistry World: Why manufacturing COVID vaccines at scale is hard
“[C]ompanies that have surmounted the challenges of development now face the next phase: manufacturing doses on an enormous scale.”

The Washington Post: Silver lining: Pandemic triggers booms in D.C. regions biotech, data center
"In Maryland’s Montgomery County, the federal government’s all-out push to develop a coronavirus vaccine was the primary source of funds that flooded the biotech industry...One of the beneficiaries was Novavax, based in Gaithersburg, which is in the final stages of developing a coronavirus vaccine...Novavax’s workforce in Montgomery nearly quadrupled to 450. Many of the jobs are for highly educated, skilled workers."


 
 
 
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Administration support for SAF follows BIO recommendations

 
 

The Biden administration took major steps to promote the development of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) last week—including a couple things BIO specifically recommended.

In the Made in America Tax Plan released Wednesday, the Biden administration included tax credits for blenders of SAF—something BIO called for days earlier in a joint letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and other administration officials.

“Nothing, in our view, would incentivize SAF production and deployment more than a technology and feedstock-neutral blender’s tax credit that is specific to SAF,”said the April 2 letter signed by about 50 other organizations.

On Thursday, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced $61 million in funding for biofuels research—also in line with BIO recommendations. In a submission to a March 24 House hearing on sustainable aviation, BIO called for funding from DOE and other federal agencies to support SAF research. (For that hearing, BIO also called for tax credits, like those proposed Wednesday, as well as reduction of regulatory hurdles to development and use of biofuels.)

What they’re saying: “Biofuels are one of our most promising paths to zero-carbon aviation and shipping, so it’s time to double down on R&D and begin to deploy these technologies at scale,” said Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm when announcing the grants. 

BIO agrees: “SAF is widely considered to hold the greatest near-term potential for reducing aviation’s climate impact,” said our joint letter to Secretary Buttigieg.

Applications for DOE’s $61 million in research funds begin with a concept paper due by April 30.Specific topics are listed here—but research into cleaner aviation is a clear priority.

 

More Agriculture and Environment News: 

Bloomberg Green: Current emissions put the world on track for biodiversity collapse
“A third of endemic species on land and half in the sea will become extinct if greenhouse gas emissions are not reined in.”

 
 
 
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BIO Beltway Report
BIO Beltway Report
 
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President Biden’s Monday: The COVID-19 Response Team will give a briefing at 11 AM ET. Later, the President and Vice President meet with a bipartisan group of Members of Congress to discuss the American Jobs Plan. 

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: Back to work after the two-week recess. STAT News looks at the administration’s proposed funding for public health agencies and pandemic preparedness. But will Biden’s infrastructure plan “head for the Senate shredder,” as POLITICO reports?

 
 
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