The costs of vaccine hesitancy

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 86.3% of the U.S. adult have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccination. Of those unvaccinated, 10.1% say they “probably” or “definitely will not” get vaccinated.

Time reports that fewer than 80,000 adults are receiving a first vaccination dose each day at this point, and most of those are occurring within marginalized communities: Black and Hispanic people, people without insurance, LGBTQ people and those living in under-resourced counties. Community health organizations say the initial federal vaccine rollout did not go far enough on offering personal outreach, information and support to those communities, though grassroots health organizations are continuing that work.

While 3.5% of U.S. adults may still get vaccinated, a picture of the economic cost of vaccine hesitancy is beginning to emerge according to Reuters. And that picture isn’t pretty.