Public health experts at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are facing challenges — even struggling — as they try to figure out how to convince hesitant Republicans to take the Covid-19 vaccine, federal officials familiar with the situation told CNN.
« It’s kind of a mess to figure out with this particular audience what resonates with them, because they see vaccines as taking away their freedom, » said one official. « It’s a hard climb for everyone in public health. It’s moving a rock up a mountain. » According to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey in April of more than 2,000 people in the US,42% of Republicans, but only 19% of Democrats, are less than enthusiastic about getting the Covid-19 vaccine. « There is a real concern at CDC that much sooner rather than later we may get to the point where we’re stalled in our vaccination efforts because of hesitancy, » another federal official said. The CDC announcement Thursday that vaccinated people can take off their masks indoors and outdoors won’t necessarily sway many conservatives, the sources said, because many believed former President Donald Trump when he said last year that Covid-19 wasn’t so dangerous. Republicans aren’t the only vaccine hesitant group in the US — others, such as Black people and Latinos, have also shown some reluctance to roll up their sleeves. But since December, when the Covid-19 vaccines were first offered, vaccination rates in those two groups have risen more sharply than among Republicans, according to the KFF survey. « When did vaccines become a partisan issue? When did any of this become a partisan issue, » a third federal official said. « This is really tough. » The officials asked for anonymity because they are not authorized to speak about the CDC’s strategy. In a statement, a CDC spokesman acknowledged hurdles to overcoming vaccine hesitancy in the US. « This is an unprecedented and complex public health challenge, » wrote Jason McDonald, the agency spokesman. « CDC continues to balance both the need to educate and inform people of safe behaviors once vaccinated as well as keep in place public health recommendations to prevent further spread of COVID-19 that could threaten our gains. We know there are people still deciding whether to get vaccinated. We encourage them to talk with their healthcare provider, who can address questions about safety or efficacy. As more people get vaccinated, we will be able to turn the corner on the pandemic and country can begin to return to a more normal way of life. » A ‘rift’ between conservatives and the CDC The relationship between the CDC and conservatives may have been doomed from the start of the pandemic. From the very beginning of the pandemic last year, « a rift » started to grow, with a perception among many conservatives that CDC cared only about getting coronavirus under control and not at all about keeping the economy going, another federal official said. « I think the challenge is, from early on it was like public health was pitted against the economy, » the official said. « If you agreed with public health, you disagreed with keeping America open. » Throughout last year, Trump deepened that rift. While the CDC was cautioning Americans to use masks and practice social distancing, Trump repeatedly said the virus would « disappear » on its own or « just go away. » « In Trump country, if you want to call it that, there are still significant numbers of people who aren’t sure [Covid-19] is a real thing, » a former senior Trump administration official told CNN. Or as one advertising executive put it, Trump « galvanized a group of people around a common belief, and that common belief is that this pandemic was a hoax.
