COVID-19

Vaccine hesitancy is common among Black healthcare workers. We’re trying to resolve it.

Click here to learn more.

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: Tips For Talking With Patients

As healthcare providers, we have a unique opportunity to help educate our patients and make them aware of the importance of getting the COVID-19 vaccine. In recently released Kaiser Family Foundation research, patients consistently ranked healthcare providers as their most trusted source for vaccine information. Providing your strong recommendation is a critical part of gaining vaccine acceptance. We encourage you to share the importance of COVID-19 vaccines to protect patients’ health, as well as the health of those around them.

There are several resources available to assist you in responding to patient questions:

The CDC offers a framework for discussing COVID-19 vaccine as part of your patient appointments.
The Penn Medicine vaccine information page contains the most up to date information about our patient COVID-19 vaccination program across the health system.
COVID-19 Vaccine FAQs and Talking Points prepared for Penn Medicine faculty and staff will help you respond to commonly asked questions from patients.

Some key messages that may be effective at addressing patients who express hesitancy include:

The vaccines are highly effective in preventing illness.
The vaccines were all 100% effective in the clinical trials in stopping hospitalizations and death.
The vaccine will protect you from getting sick.
The quickest way for life to return to normal is for most people to get vaccinated.
Millions of people have safely been vaccinated already.
We need people to get vaccinated to get the U.S. economy back on track.
There is no cost to receive the vaccine.

Among minority patients, particularly those from Black and Brown communities, you may hear hesitancy due to fear or mistrust of the medical community. These concerns can be more difficult to address. Below are some resources that you can provide patients who have these concerns:

Penn Medicine Town Hall: Vaccine Experience in the Black and Brown Community (video)
How Black Philadelphians are approaching vaccine hesitancy - WHYY (article): Mike Pearson, a Philadelphia resident and COVID-19 vaccine trial participant discusses with WHYY why his experiences as a Black man led him to volunteer to participate in a COVID-19 trial.
Black Penn Medicine Physicians on why they chose to get the vaccine (flyer)
FAITH, (MIS)TRUST & COVID-19: An Honest Community Conversation (video): A town hall meeting co-sponsored by Penn Medicine with the Black Clergy of Philadelphia and the COVID-19 Prevention Network.

Because these vaccines are new, your patients’ comfort level with when to get vaccinated will vary. Continue to remind them about the importance of getting a COVID-19 vaccine during future routine visits.

Penn Medicine Co-Sponsored Town Hall Targets Vaccine Hesitancy in Communities of Color

Caption Rev. Cean James hosted the December 15 Faith, (Mis)Trust, and COVID-19 virtual Town Hall discussion on vaccine hesitancy in communities of color sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania, Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity, Inc., and the NIH COVID-19 Prevention Network. These are Dickensian-like times, with the best and the worst — vaccine and pandemic —

Vaccine Hesitancy and the Black Community

During a CNN segment centered on the low percentage of Black people who have gotten the COVID-19 vaccine, Eugenia South, MD, an assistant professor of Emergency Medicine, related why Black people may be hesitant to get the vaccine. She explained that systemic racism and past experiences have created some distrust in health care.

CNN

It’s okay to be unsure about getting the COVID vaccine.

Here’s why we, a group of Black Penn Medicine physicians, decided to say yes!

COVID-19: Why I decided to get vaccinated