Why is vaccine uptake so low for care workers?

[Hamilbamil]

1/6th of workers haven't had it despite it being available and being urged to for months! We're at just under 80% take up for the country at large with most under 30s either still waiting or not even able to book yet for the youngest groups. It seems likely that we'll get to 90% without breaking much of a sweat!

I'm puzzled by this apparent correlation between being a care home worker and being anti-vacs. It seems totally bizarre, but there must be a reason.

Where did you get that figure from? In Scotland it looks like uptake is really high in care home workers and other health care staff.

There is a smaller ethnic minority population in Scotland and in Scotland overall vaccine hesitancy is very low.

On a personal level, I know all the carers coming to a family member are vaccinated. I think all who work for the company are.

My guess (I lecture on similar subjects). Being a care worker is correlated with low income & low socioeconomic status, which is in turn associated with a lack of trust in authority. This lack of trust may be well founded - perhaps they've had poor experiences with medics, PIP assessors etc... These things are not usually a result of lack of intelligence or thinking skills. They're about trust.
For those questioning why ethnic minorities might have a reluctance, we could think about the kinds of healthcare inequalities BAME people experience and historic abuse. For example, the Tuckergee experiments in the US where black men were left with untreated syphilis for decades whilst being told they were getting free medical care (this ended in the 1970s). If you come from a group that is badly treated by the authorities you'll tend to have lower trust.

I work in a care home initially we had a very low uptake (40%) but it has improved now with only 2 staff out of 30 unvaccinated. One is under 18 and the other has had covid and now refuses.
Initial reasons people gave were along the lines of being Guinea pigs, concerns it was untested, how would it affect fertility. As we were the first group getting the vaccine and back in January they were seeing alot of this anti vac inflation on their facebook pages which is where they got their news/information from. We used the resources provided by the council to encourage uptake and generally as the rollout progressed they have decided to take it.
Like many care homes we struggle to recruit and basically if you have a clean DBS you can work in care no experience or qualifications needed. We have to have minimum staffing levels and it is very poorly paid work. I dont think forcing people to take a vaccine is the right way although I do think all the staff should be vaccinated and had mine at the first opportunity

There is obviously a suspicion about this vaccine. We didn’t know about the blood clots until it had be rolled out to large numbers. Those perhaps at the lower end of society or recently immigrated are perhaps less likely to trust the government and their eagerness to push the vaccine.

Whilst I don’t like the idea of making someone have the vaccine, it is for the safe care of the care home residents and also the care workers themselves. For some it may be the push they need to get it, to others who really don’t want it, they will have to try and get another

@RuggerHug

No idea. You'd think to get into being a carer (because it's obviously not for the money) you'd at least care about the people you're with, and about your own health.

The majority of people I know in care work are not there because they care but because it is the only job they can get that works around their family.

I actually think it is because of how it has been marketed, don't forget we've been told constantly it doesn't affect the young, most care workers are young, they were told to take the risk having it to protect others.
It annoys me when people think those with vaccine hesitancy are stupid. AZ was given to all adults in the beginning but at a later date an age limit was imposed.
Regards to TTC and periods healthcare doesn't prioritise women, they refused to look into it.

Also, you’re saying the uptake is 83%. Given the age of many of these staff, that’s well above average for their age group. It doesn’t seem terrible.

@RuggerHug

No idea. You'd think to get into being a carer (because it's obviously not for the money) you'd at least care about the people you're with, and about your own health.

This. With bells on.

A chap on the BBC news this morning that owns a care home listed 3 reasons that some of his care workers are not vaccinated:

1. Due to religious reasons

1. Some people of certain ethnicities were not having the vaccine

1. Some thought it wasn't tested yet

Well number 3 can be sorted with education and providing more information on how things are tested - what the different phases mean and how some drugs that people take quite happily are still in phase 4.

Perhaps religious leaders could spread advice about wheat the vaccine contains and whether religion approves of it or not.

Not sure what the concern was for people of some ethnicities, but again finding out and helping with the reasons is important since lots of misconceptions around the vaccines persist. There is so much misinformation about what is in them etc it needs addressing.

what not wheat

Also care work is low paid. Many people from certain ethnicities work in care. Some people work in care because the qualifications required are low Some people because hours are flexed over a 24 hour day and it might fit with family commitments.

We need to upskill care workers and pay more to attract more people. Sadly some would rather not work and use benefits to fund their life than work hard and often people from other countries that move to the UK are happy to work hard and do these care type jobs.

I’m nhs. I didn’t get a choice about Hep B injection. Just changed jobs, by OH check included proof I’d been jabbed.

I’d leave if that didn’t suit me.

@Hamilbamil

1/6th of workers haven't had it despite it being available and being urged to for months! We're at just under 80% take up for the country at large with most under 30s either still waiting or not even able to book yet for the youngest groups. It seems likely that we'll get to 90% without breaking much of a sweat!

I'm puzzled by this apparent correlation between being a care home worker and being anti-vacs. It seems totally bizarre, but there must be a reason.

1/6th havn't had it. That's 16.7%. so 83.3% HAVE had it, which is more than the 80% of the country as a whole, so, in fact, the proportion of care workers who've had it is slightly more than the general population.

@LotsoTheStrawberryBear

I work in a care home initially we had a very low uptake (40%) but it has improved now with only 2 staff out of 30 unvaccinated. One is under 18 and the other has had covid and now refuses. Initial reasons people gave were along the lines of being Guinea pigs, concerns it was untested, how would it affect fertility. As we were the first group getting the vaccine and back in January they were seeing alot of this anti vac inflation on their facebook pages which is where they got their news/information from. We used the resources provided by the council to encourage uptake and generally as the rollout progressed they have decided to take it. Like many care homes we struggle to recruit and basically if you have a clean DBS you can work in care no experience or qualifications needed. We have to have minimum staffing levels and it is very poorly paid work. I dont think forcing people to take a vaccine is the right way although I do think all the staff should be vaccinated and had mine at the first opportunity

SO your care home educated against the misconceptions. Facebook, YouTube and other platforms are places where much misinformation and complete lies about the vaccine are spread. People that don't believe in vaccines seem to need to spread lies and misinformation and worries to get others to feed into the anti vax way. Some of the people at the top of the anti vax groups earn lots of money peddling their snake oils to worried people - captive market in the anti vax groups. It's really sad that vulnerable people believe and follow them. So sad that they sometimes buy the ridiculous alternatives they peddle - the bleach spray for autism cure - sold by a leader of the anti vax groups in the US. Awful.

@crinklyfoil

Fair enough rugger but I think it’s a bit naive to think that they will go into it for purely altruistic reasons.

I don’t think it’s right at all to have dreadful working conditions, minimum wage and then excuse it on the grounds that people are ‘caring’. I’m not saying you were doing this but it is how care workers have been shat on for so long.

And now this - any objections and they ‘don’t care’ about the patients.

I didn't mean it to come across as someone else being a dick towards them. I've seen it first hand and at the best of times it's bloody hard work(in every way). Part of being offered the vaccine when they were (IMO) is to protect those they're caring for and also because they bloody earned that privilege. They'll have seen first hand what the risk was and I imagine it's been a bloody terrifying 16 months. That's part of why I can't get my head around a 'ahhhh no I won't get it'.

Because they don’t want to be coerced into something that is still in emergency measures in order to do their minimal pay iob. Especially because it doesn’t stop you transmitting or getting covid and the number of adverse reactions if you look it up is higher than any other injection. There ha no long term data and that is fact so no one can say we know there will be no issues in the future

But say they are thick, , it’s to do with their ethinicity are not critical thinkers if that makes you feel superior

I wouldn’t want anyone near my DM who has not been vaccinated. If you don’t want to get the vaccine get another job.
There are entry requirements for a lot of jobs, don’t really understand why this is any different.

I must admit after the first few weeks I wasn’t concerned about me personally getting covid, despite being pregnant at the time. Obviously I don’t want to pass it on.

I’m very much in two minds about the vaccine because I want to TTC next year and the number of reports of changed cycles and periods is a worry for me. If I’d had all my babies it wouldn’t bother me and I’d have it.

The problem is I know I’ll be flamed for expressing that view so chances are I will just quietly delay having it.

Yuk what a horrible thread...
In my experience, care home workers are frontline when it comes to seeing adverse vaccine reactions. I know a woman who runs a care home who told me years ago she would never take the flu vaccine as she noticed that the residents who got it tended to get sicker.

Jeremy Vine had a segment on this yesterday. The care workers that did not want to have the vaccine did not have compelling arguments against it. Maybe worth a listen? Although the sample size is tiny!

For the same reason certain wards in Bolton are seeing alarmingly high rates of COVID (it’s not a city wide problem at all).

But to say so bluntly is considered racist.

Yet, it seems to me almost more racist to not recognise what’s happening and allow this community to get ill and die in disproportionate numbers and encouraging a community divide that is already problematic.

@Hatethisplacetho

Yuk what a horrible thread... In my experience, care home workers are frontline when it comes to seeing adverse vaccine reactions. I know a woman who runs a care home who told me years ago she would never take the flu vaccine as she noticed that the residents who got it tended to get sicker.

Sicker than they would be if they had the flu?

Yeah right.

Everyone & their granny is supposedly ill after the flu vaccine if you listen to some people who use it as an excuse not to be vaccinated. In reality it's probably a sniffle caused by a minor virus that are constantly going around at the same time of year.

There is absolutely no way of knowing whether there's a link or not. Nobody double jabbed has even given birth yet. No long-term safety data. You seem to have a crystal ball, though?

@Roonerspismed

Because they are young, female and there are serious questions about its long term safety.

There are thousands of women alleging long term menstrual changes post vaccine. Thousands - but the NHS tells them it’s not connected

I am one of those women. However mine is positive. I am done having children. But for 10 years due to adenomyosis I have bled extremely heavy and often. For the last year it has been so bad I have bled 21ish day and 3 days off. Since my vaccine I have a 4 day period and have a gap for about 20-25 days.

It may still have nothing to do with my vaccine, but I would be wary of I was TTC or if I had plans to. Something has changed in me. It may be coincidence. But for 10 years my life I have had pain and extreme bleeding. Now I feel normal. I have more energy.

I work in the sector as a support worker the six main reasons for my colleagues are:

1. a complete lack of education, and the inability to analyse information from reputable sources. Lack of critical thinking.

2. total mistrust/suspicion in authorities. Many are from poorer demographics and the trust is at zero.

3. many of the workers are from ethnic minorities and their uptake is lower

4. we are not paid for time off work and many are hesitant about feeling ill afterwards (I myself was off after my first AZ vaccine and I did not get paid)

5. a lot of the younger women believe the fertility rumours

6. most of the workers are looking for paid work elsewhere so they don’t want the vaccine if they really don’t need it

@Wakeupin2022

The side effects of the flu vaccine are similar to the symptoms of flu:

Fever/shivering
Headache
Tiredness or drowsiness
Muscle aches
Nausea
Malaise

Up to 75% of flu cases can be asymptomatic.