Vaccination During the COVID-19 Pandemic: What Nurses Need To Know

In late 2019 a new virus emerged from China which would become the worst pandemic the world had experienced since the flu pandemic of 1918. Over one year later, the virus has infected over 100 million people and claimed the lives of over 2 million people. In this article, we first offer a brief over...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Online journal of issues in nursing 2021-05, Vol.26 (2), p.1-16
Main Authors: Marcus, Blima, Danielson, Lindsey, Frenkel, Tamar
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Coronaviruses
COVID-19 vaccines
Disease control
Health education
Infectious diseases
Public health
Respiratory diseases
Vaccines
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In late 2019 a new virus emerged from China which would become the worst pandemic the world had experienced since the flu pandemic of 1918. Over one year later, the virus has infected over 100 million people and claimed the lives of over 2 million people. In this article, we first offer a brief overview about the COVID-19 pandemic. We review efforts to slow the spread and flatten the curve to contain the disease such as mask-wearing, hand hygiene, and testing. Unprecedented funding and collaborative efforts have resulted in highly effective and safe vaccines, rolled out in December 2020. We also briefly discuss the history of vaccine development and previous outbreaks and lessons learned, followed by new vaccine technologies; barriers related to vaccination; vaccine hesitancy; successful vaccination programs; and vaccine hesitancy in healthcare providers. We conclude with implications for nurses to consider as they serve as trusted sources of vaccine information in their roles as frontline workers.
ISSN:1091-3734
1091-3734
DOI:10.3912/OJIN.Vol26No02Man05