Half of hospital staffers are vaccinated

Employee vaccinations at St. Mary Parish’s two hospitals were close to 50% as of this week.
Franklin Foundation’s rate was estimated between 52 to 55%, according to Kevin Romero, director of marketing, business development and co-director of physician services.
Meanwhile, at Ochsner St. Mary in Morgan City, the rate was above 40%, hospital spokeswoman Sabrina Williams said.
Both hospitals started employee vaccinations in mid-December.
In the Ochsner Health System as a whole, CEO Warner Thomas said Monday on a video call with media that the rate was 49.1%. He said the number continues to rise, but it is not where they hoped it would be. He said the employees have been educated about the vaccine’s safety.
“I can’t specifically say why folks are not getting vaccinated,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of different personal reasons. I think some continue to be skeptical for whatever reason.”
Thomas and Ochsner Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Robert Hart each referenced fertility concerns as a possible reason for that hesitancy, although employees have been reassured that experts in that field encourage the vaccine.
“There’s other areas, as well, but that’s one that we keep hearing in our open forums,” Hart said. “That’s a question that we keep getting from that age group, regarding fertility.”
Ochsner had a backlog of 21,400 patients waiting to get the first dose of the vaccine a week ago after it had to cancel appointments due to about a 70% drop in vaccine supplies in recent weeks. Employees were included in those cancelations, which all are being rescheduled as vaccine supplies are replenished. Any new employees who sign up for the vaccine will have to wait in line in the order they signed up for the vaccine like everyone else, Thomas said.
In Franklin, Romero said Drs. Roland Degeyter and Steven McPherson have touted the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness.
Romero said uncertainty surrounding the vaccine and people feeling it was hurried to come up with a solution to COVID-19 were concerns.
That’s where education comes in, he said.
He said as more of the public is being vaccinated, more employees are feeling comfortable and getting inoculated.
State Health Officer Dr. Joseph Kanter, in a recent report by Baton Rouge TV station WBRZ in which, on average, 47% of hospital health care workers in Capital City data the station gathered refused the vaccine, said, “I think part of that is probably deferred or delayed. I’ve heard a lot of health care providers say that they wanted to wait a little bit and see other people get it. I would advise them not to.”
The Baton Rouge hospitals whose employees refused the vaccine did so, in some cases, so others could get them immediately or for other reasons, according to the report.
“... As far as vaccines go, the two we have now are really home runs, and it does pain me when the healthcare provider who is putting themselves on the line, has given so much to their patients that they deprive themselves of that opportunity,” Kanter told WBRZ.
Gov. John Bel Edwards said in the TV station’s report that as more people are receiving their second doses, more medical workers are signing up for initial doses.
While a percentage wasn’t listed in the report, to the west in Iberia Parish, as of the end of December, Lafayette-based KLFY-TV 10 quoted Iberia Medical Center Chief of Anesthesia Dr. Carlo Alphonso, who said, “I believe we’ve had quite a few hundred people get our vaccine here. …”
Vaccine hesitancy isn’t just an issue in Louisiana.
According to a Jan. 18 article in Contagion Life, which covers infectious disease, a survey by Surgo Ventures titled “U.S. Healthcare Workers: COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake and Attitudes” revealed that of a polling of 2,504 health care workers and staff between Dec. 12-30, of those who answered, 15% refused the vaccine. Thirty-one percent said it was because there wasn’t enough evidence the vaccine was safe and worked, while 24% said “personal safety concerns.” Sixteen percent said it was because approving the vaccine had been rushed.