Re:Canadians fly south for shot as US demand falls
by naturalauction on Thursday May 06, 2021 @02:08PM
(#27067086)
Perhaps you are right, I am just surprised with almost a month of unrestricted vaccine uptake opportunities in the US, the rate of vaccination (people who have taken at least one dose) is significantly lower than the UK, which as you note is experiencing significant supply difficulties. I also think that dealing with vaccine hesitancy effectively is the mark of a good healthcare system, but of course there can be many causes of vaccine hesitancy and there is no good way to measure outreach.
Re:Canadians fly south for shot as US demand falls
by TMWNN on Thursday May 06, 2021 @02:23PM
(#27067258)
>I also think that dealing with vaccine hesitancy effectively is the mark of a good healthcare system, but of course there can be many causes of vaccine hesitancy and there is no good way to measure outreach.
The French health care system consistently rates as among the best in the world. France has the highest vaccine hesitancy among developed countries (https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2021/03/fr...).
Most countries have prioritizing giving one dose to as many as possible first and delaying the second dose, believing that doing so is preferable to prioritizing second doses when the goal is the most widespread (as opposed to optimal per person) immunity possible. The US hasn't had to do this because it bought enough vaccines last year for every American from each of the countries working on a vaccine, leading to the current luxury of being able to schedule second does at the recommended interval. The UK is in better shape than the EU or Canada but does not have as much as the US, leading to its strategy.
>Some of that can be attributed to lower rates of vaccine hesitancy
Vaccine hesitancy in the UK is unusually low, I agree, based on the YouGov data I've seen, but overall anti-vaccine sentiment is higher in Europe than in the US. https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuacohen/2021/03/08/covid-19...
>but some of it is surely related to the NHS being better at outreach than the fragmented healthcare system in the US.
There is no evidence of this. In the US, it is impossible to go anywhere without hearing or seeing vaccine offers. In addition to government- and hospital-run mass vaccination sites, every chain pharmacy offers vaccination at every location including Walgreens. Meanwhile, Walgreens' UK affiliate Boots only offers vaccination at 17 locations (https://www.boots.com/health-pharmacy/covid-19-information-p...). Superdrug offers it at a handful of locations as well. (https://www.superdrug.com/corona-update/faq)