instantly health

COVID-19 vaccine image by Torstensimon from Pixabay Having made it through three waves of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, hospitals in many parts of the country are now facing a rapidly growing fourth wave of COVID-19 patients, the unvaccinated. While there is always discussion about the hospital’s role in a public health crisis, in leading the mitigation efforts, or follow the advice of public health officials at the Federal, State, and local, the size as a percentage of the population of the anti-vaxxers have added new complexity to the pandemic. There are many reasons, with the most often repeated by anti-vaxxers is distrust of the government, fueled by the disinformation 12, anti-vaxxers, and conspiracy theorists.   If the hospital sits back as a background player, then the risk of the hospital being overrun with COVID cases is very real and impacts inpatient admissions for non-COVID illnesses, surgery, ambulatory services, again threatening survival. But the hospital with the pri...

Woman physician image by Daniel Damn outsideclick from Pixabay Let’s face it, the current efforts by local, state, and federal governments are falling way short of the target number of vaccinations needed to reach community herd immunity. While availability and access of the COVID-19 vaccines are widely available, convenient, and free,  the efforts by anti-vaxxers, science deniers, conspiracy theorists and disinformation 12 continue to gain followers and support. While many efforts are underway to reverse the trend, from state lotteries, free giveaways, public relations, etc., it’s just not working. Now comes the finger-pointing and blame game focusing on the social media tech giants as the source of the problem by allowing COVID-19 misinformation to be shared. What hospitals and health systems are now facing as the COVID Delta variant spreads like wildfire, as society opens up, is the fourth wave of the pandemic, that of the unvaccinated. It’s time to stop blaming third parties...