{"id":97580,"date":"2021-08-13T05:58:43","date_gmt":"2021-08-13T10:58:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/?p=97580"},"modified":"2021-08-13T05:58:43","modified_gmt":"2021-08-13T10:58:43","slug":"auto-draft-666","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/2021\/08\/13\/auto-draft-666\/","title":{"rendered":"Delta Variant Surge Changing Attitudes About Getting Vaccinated"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"VOA \u2014 NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – Stephen Feehily lives in a suburb of New Orleans, Louisiana, an area where, as in much of the American South, hesitancy to get vaccinated against COVID-19 has been high. While his two sons are too young to get the shots, he regrets that he and his wife opted against inoculation.<\/p>\n

\u201cListen, I can admit I made a mistake,\u201d he told VOA. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t wish what happened to my wife and me on anyone. It was truly horrible and I\u2019m getting the vaccine as soon as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

The change of heart occurred after he, his wife and youngest son all tested positive for the coronavirus while on vacation last month. Feehily said it was the sickest he can remember feeling. In addition to losing his sense of taste and smell, he had difficulty breathing and still hasn\u2019t fully recovered. He had chills, a fever, and his wife had to drive herself to the emergency room because Stephen was unable to do so.<\/p>\n

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\"COVID-19<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>
COVID-19 vaccines are administered at Floyd’s Family Pharmacy as cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) surge in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, Aug. 5, 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Feehily family is part of a larger trend in states across the South where lower vaccination rates have resulted in higher infection rates from the delta variant. Louisiana has among the lowest vaccination rates in the country \u2014 only 38% of the population is fully vaccinated. Unsurprisingly, the state is leading the U.S. in the number of new COVID-19 cases per capita. Officials say hospitalizations due to the virus are up 124% from two weeks ago and deaths have risen 221%.<\/p>\n

Feehily has no issue with wearing a face mask and doesn\u2019t consider himself anti-vaccine. But a false sense of security based on dropping infection rates earlier in the year \u2014 and a hesitancy on the part of his wife, a nurse, to get vaccinated \u2014 kept him from signing up for the shot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tend to take my cues on health from her,\u201d he said. \u201cI thought her hesitancy was based on data she was seeing that showed some terrible side effect. I now understand she\u2019s just nervous to get it before it receives [full] FDA approval. I don\u2019t fault her, but I also don\u2019t agree. I never want to get that sick again and am definitely getting vaccinated.\u201d<\/p>\n

A sudden urgency<\/strong><\/p>\n

Americans like Feehily are feeling a newfound urgency to protect themselves as the delta variant wreaks havoc on unvaccinated populations.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, daily vaccination rates have steadily increased for the first time in months. In Louisiana, officials say more than 288,000 residents have received the first dose of the vaccine over the last month. That surge pushed the percentage of Louisianans who have done so from 39% to more than 45%.<\/p>\n

Danielle O\u2019Sullivan is an X-ray technician and has been a health care worker for nearly two decades. She\u2019s employed by a major health care provider in New Orleans and believes the recent uptick in vaccination rates stems from fear.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen COVID started, the worst effects were reserved for the elderly and those with certain underlying conditions,\u201d she said. \u201cNow we\u2019re seeing anyone can get this delta strain. People in their 20s are getting it, children are getting it and some are becoming really sick.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Sullivan said even some who had mild cases of the virus months ago are still showing signs of long-term physical damage.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are coming in for chest X-rays eight months later and are still unable to take a deep breath,\u201d she said. \u201cWe can see the damage. And what\u2019s most frustrating is that we know the vaccine is the best answer we have to solving these problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Medical<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>
Medical devices are seen at Ochsner Medical Center in the New Orleans suburb of Jefferson, La., on Aug.11, 2021. The rapidly escalating surge in COVID-19 infections is once again overwhelming hospitals across the U.S.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some Americans report feeling less sympathy for those infected by the virus today compared with last year, when vaccines were unavailable. The majority of current hospitalizations for COVID-19 are among the unvaccinated.<\/p>\n

New Orleanian Kami Burgard-Landry said she feels nothing but anger. She feels the poor decisions of others are impacting her family. She and her wife have a daughter with autism, and even though it\u2019s important the 4-year-old has regular social interaction, they are keeping her out of school so she doesn\u2019t get the virus.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wouldn\u2019t have to make that decision if others got the vaccine and helped stop the spread,\u201d Burgard-Landry told VOA. \u201cIt makes me so mad, and even when I hear of people dying or sick on ventilators, I\u2019m losing the ability to care about them. That scares me more than anything, if I\u2019m being honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Remaining unvaccinated<\/strong><\/p>\n

Still, millions of Americans remain unvaccinated. Nicole Johnson has a home baking business in New Orleans. She dutifully wears her mask and provides hand sanitizer for her customers, but she said she doesn\u2019t plan on getting vaccinated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made the decision 10 years ago that neither me nor my child would get any vaccines,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Johnson said she\u2019d heard of people who have gotten sick from the COVID-19 vaccine. While data show\u00a0the number of people reporting serious side effects is infinitesimally small, Johnson said those personal accounts are enough to keep her hesitant about getting the shot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the only one who\u2019s making money in my family,\u201d she said. \u201cIf I got sick \u2014 or even if I just get those side effects from the shot \u2014 I\u2019d have to cancel jobs, and I can\u2019t afford to do that. It just seems best for me and my daughter that I stay safe and do my best to avoid the virus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson resents that some might pass judgment on her decision without knowing her situation or trying to understand her reasoning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t owe anyone else an explanation,\u201d she said. \u201cMy daughter is my first responsibility and I\u2019m doing what I think is best for her. These people aren\u2019t going to pay my bills and they\u2019re not going to take care of my daughter if something happens to me. It\u2019s my decision to make.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finding empathy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Audrey Smith is vaccinated but she\u2019s frustrated about the rhetoric being leveled at those who aren\u2019t \u2014 especially in the South.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s understandable that people are distrustful of our medical system,\u201d she said. \u201cQuality, affordable health care has been a difficult thing for generations of people in the South to get. Now that we have a public health crisis, we expect everyone to just suddenly trust the system that neglected them?\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Mary<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>
Mary Lubrano, a nurse from Chalmette, Louisiana, is treated for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the Ochsner Medical Center in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, Aug. 10, 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Smith said she doesn\u2019t think it\u2019s hard to see how that distrust can lead to the spread of misinformation. What she can\u2019t tolerate, she said, is how people are attacking their fellow citizens over their decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s enraging that you have some public officials who are shaming folks, while you have others who are helping to spread misinformation,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need care and understanding in this conversation if we\u2019re going to move forward \u2014 not more shame. No one wants to hear \u2018I told you so\u2019 on their deathbed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephen Feehily agreed. He said it\u2019s important that people come to decisions like this on their own.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t expect to ridicule someone and also change their mind,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s not how it works. People are persuaded by those they trust and those they sense care about them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nicole Johnson said she might be proof of that\u00a0herself. Recent conversations with her doctor and therapist have started to open her up to the idea of getting what would be her first vaccine in a decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cI trust my doctor and I know she\u2019s not going to administer something she doesn\u2019t think is good for my specific situation,\u201d she said. \u201cShe doesn\u2019t talk about me getting the shot for the betterment of mankind. She talks about how it could benefit me as a single parent, and my daughter. So that got me listening.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VOA \u2014 NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – Stephen Feehily lives in a suburb of New Orleans, Louisiana, an area where, as in much of the American South, hesitancy to get vaccinated against COVID-19 has been high. While his two sons are too young to get the shots, he regrets that he and his wife opted against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97581,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latests"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["fa","en"],"languages":{"fa":{"title":true,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97580"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97583,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97580\/revisions\/97583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}