Health workers refusing vaccine is new growing US problem

Scores of health care workers are still declining to take the COVID-19 vaccine, presenting problems to the pandemic response by sending the wrong message to the public and risking staff shortages if workers become sick.

In New York state, more than 40 percent of health workers, who are first in line to get the shot because of their importance to the COVID-19 response, have yet to be vaccinated.

The CDC warned the new fast-spreading strain of the coronavirus could be overwhelming already strained hospitals. Because it is more contagious, it could also require more people to be vaccinated to achieve the necessary level of herd immunity.