COVID-19 Vaccination Anxiety

Question: Even though my wife is eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, she has yet to do so. I’ve shown her the information on PHI’s website that encourages polio survivors to get the vaccine, but she still has some trepidation. It is still so new, she says. What if there is some long-term side effect we don’t know about? I feel like the very real risks from contracting COVID-19 far outweigh any theoretical (or irrational) concerns about the new vaccines. How can I put her mind at ease and convince her to get vaccinated?

Response from Stephanie T. Machell, PsyD: People have different levels of risk tolerance. I am assuming your wife’s is quite low for the unknown (like long-term vaccine side effects) while her tolerance of known risks (like that of contracting COVID-19) is higher. Research has shown that the ability to estimate risk is poor at best. Most of us overestimate the likelihood of low-probability, high-risk events while underestimating the risk posed by higher-probability, high-risk events. This is why few people hesitate to drive a car (higher probability of experiencing a serious accident) while many fear flying (lower probability). Low probability doesn’t mean no probability (which is why lottery tickets sell so well). Having already experienced one low-probability event (paralytic polio only occurred in 1-5% of cases), your wife may be more fearful that she could experience another.

At this time, no one knows whether there will be any long-term vaccine side effects, let alone how high the probability of experiencing them might be. However, there is information available that might help reassure your wife. One clear but thorough explanation of the vaccines including how they work and why the risk of long-term side effects from them may well be quite low can be found on the CDC’s website. If she hasn’t, encourage her to speak with her healthcare providers about the risks and benefits of getting the vaccine as opposed to contracting COVID-19. I am assuming you and other family members have been or are scheduled to be vaccinated. Talk about how you made your decision, what getting the vaccine was like, and how you felt afterwards, including any side effects you might have experienced. Family members and close friends may also need to let her know whether they will be willing to take the risk of socializing with her (and you) if she remains unvaccinated. And you may need to let her know how her decision will affect you and your marriage.

She may still argue that it is her choice. But it’s a choice with consequences for anyone with whom she comes in contact. If she remains unvaccinated, no matter how careful she is she could contract COVID-19 and spread it to you or others she loves. And if enough people make the same choice, there is a high probability that infection rates will remain high, more dangerous variants will emerge and lives will remain restricted.

Which brings me to my final thought: Is your wife’s vaccine hesitancy in part due to a wish not to go back to the way things were before? Maybe the slower pace of pandemic life has improved your wife’s PPS symptoms. Or maybe she has experienced more symptoms over the past year and doesn’t want others to see how reliant she has become on assistive devices. If so, it might help to reassure her that once she’s fully vaccinated no one will pressure her to become more active than she wants to be.

Post-Polio Health (Vol. 37, No. 2, Spring 2021)