More than half of Missouri鈥檚 population has not been fully vaccinated 鈥� despite months of warnings from public health officials that the coronavirus would resurge if not enough people were inoculated.
Now, heading into August and a new school year, the delta variant accounts for four out of five coronavirus cases in the United States. Public health experts believe that are largely to blame for the proliferation of the new variant and that infection rates will continue to increase if vaccination rates remain stagnant.
So, what will it take to overcome vaccine hesitancy in Missouri, particularly in the rural areas of the state that are hit hardest by the delta variant?
Washington University School of Medicine instructor Beth Prusaczyk would like the U.S. to learn from recent history. As she asserted , public health officials should look to lessons learned from the push to get children the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in rural areas.
That includes the use of religious institutions as disseminators of health information, leverage of social media to disseminate information about vaccines, and an increase in mobile, discrete distribution sites for vaccinations.
Prusaczyk joined St. Louis on the Air to share what past case studies can tell us about how to effectively communicate vaccine information and implement successful vaccination programs in rural areas.
Melanie Hall, a Springfield woman whose 12-year-old daughter was hospitalized in mid-July due to a COVID-19 infection, also joined the conversation.
鈥淭he ER doctor let me know, in no uncertain terms, that had my daughter been vaccinated, she wouldn鈥檛 be panting with oxygen to keep her oxygen saturation above 90% and her [heart] rates below 130 [beats per minute],鈥� . 鈥淪uddenly, every concern my ill/misinformed mind had about vaccination was replaced with if she had a pulmonary embolism and what major city we would have to travel to.鈥�
She added that, after 20 days in the hospital and isolation at home, her daughter is in recovery 鈥� and eager to get her story out.
鈥淪he is just a child. I make her decisions, and I have to watch her live with/in the life I choose for her,鈥� Hall wrote. 鈥淥n July 14th, it didn鈥檛 matter who I voted for or what church I attend. It mattered if I had [chosen] to vaccinate her, which I did not. She was left to deal with COVID in a very bad way. 鈥� I gave her time and a freedom that wasn鈥檛 mine to give.
鈥淥ur children, our families, need to be vaccinated,鈥� she added.
鈥�鈥� brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is hosted by and produced by , , and . Paola Rodriguez is our production assistant. The audio engineer is .
