FORT WORTH, Texas — For now, there’s a scramble across the country to sign up for COVID-19 vaccine waitlists and hope for appointments. Soon, though, supply will catch up with demand.
“This started as a trickle of vaccines at the very beginning,” said Dr. James McDeavitt, the Dean of Clinical Affairs at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. “I would say now, it's kind of a steady stream. I think we’re getting ready to get a flood.”
Two months ago, the federal government was distributing 8.6 million vaccine doses a week across the U.S. Now, that number has more than tripled to 27 million doses expected this upcoming week.
Before COVID-19 vaccinations began, McDeavitt knew hesitancy could be an issue.
“One of the characteristics of this whole COVID pandemic, unfortunately, has been a lack of trust,” he said.
A recent NPR poll found some difference by race. Twenty-five percent of Black people polled said they’re not interested in a vaccine, compared to 28 percent of white people and 37 percent of Latino people.
The largest gap, though, is by politics.
Just 10 percent of Joe Biden voters say they’re not interested, but 47 percent of Donald Trump voters say they’re not. The highest level of resistance: 49 percent of Republican men say they wouldn’t want a vaccine, compared to just 6 percent of Democratic men.
A CBS poll had a similar finding: 33 percent of Republicans said they didn’t want a COVID-19 vaccine compared to 10 percent of Democrats.
“If there's something that we could put a political spin on, we managed to do it. Even things that I wouldn't think should be particularly political. We did,” McDeavitt said.
It matters because experts believe 75 pecent of the country needs to be vaccinated for herd immunity. We’re on track but that depends on more people buying in.
“If we got to herd immunity by June, that would exceed all my expectations,” McDeavitt said. “And it looks like we might be on track for that.”
When the rollout started, Gov. Greg Abbott got his shot publicly.
“it’s important for governors to step up and be examples in their community,” Abbott said at the event at the time.
Former president Donald Trump said this month he got a COVID-19 vaccine while in office.
“I would recommend it and I would recommend it to a lot of people that don’t want to get it,” Trump said. “It’s a great vaccine. It’s a safe vaccine and it’s something that works.”
McDeavitt said while politicians can play a role, friends and family and local doctors likely matter more.
“At the end of the day, it is going to be people in your community that look and talk and think like you, the people you interact with every day, particularly the leaders of your community,” he said. “It's always been true for everything. I don't think that's a new concept. That's how we choose to buy laundry, soap and every other decision in our lives.”
He also believes that as incentives increase, vaccination totals increase, whether that’s a donut or the ability to fly on a plane or take a cruise, and more people will likely buy in.
“As people see their friends and family vaccinated, as people start to see that they have more freedom and opportunity available to them, once they're vaccinated, I think you'll see those numbers start to improve pretty, pretty rapidly,” he said.
It’s not shouting or arguing, but education and time that will change minds.
“If you're still on the fence, give it some time. Wait for more people. Listen carefully. And I think you have time and you have the right to form your own opinion at this point,” McDeavitt said. “When you see that we have 200 million people vaccinated at some point it’s going become very apparent that this is safe and effective, and the right thing to do.”