KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Bridget Burke, 22, a college student in Michigan, said she was unsettled by rumors that Covid-19 vaccines could affect her reproductive health. Bryson Hardy, 19, a fiber optic cable splicer from Georgia, said he was not worried about contracting the virus and had no plans to get vaccinated. And Cinda Heard, 27, an in-home health care assistant in Missouri, said she feared potential side effects from the vaccine and got a shot only because her employer required it.
As the country’s vaccination campaign slows and doses go unused, it has suddenly become clear that one of the biggest barriers to mass immunity will be persuading skeptical young adults of all backgrounds to get shots. Federal officials expressed alarm in recent days about low vaccination rates among Americans in their late teens and 20s, and have blamed them for the country’s all-but-certain failure to reach President Biden’s goal of giving 70 percent of adults at least an initial dose by July 4.
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Source: Why Young Adults Are Among the Biggest Barriers to Mass Immunity | The New York Times