The delta variant and the pandemic of the unvaccinated: a nurse’s POV

Words that wouldn't have given us pause just 2 short years ago: coronavirus, Delta, mandatory vaccine. A time when masks were universally accepted as a simple and effective means to decrease the spread of germs, vaccines were a logical viral prevention measure, and the science of public health wasn’t something one needed to “believe in.” 

And then 2020 came along, and changed the way nurses practiced forever. 

Heralded as heroes, then reviled as ungrateful health care frontline workers, public opinion has swung wildly when it comes to how nurses are viewed. All the while, we’ve been working. (And working, and working, and working.) Because above all else, if there’s one thing that we all understand about nurses, it’s this: when we see what needs to be done, we get busy doing it.

Vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate

Immunizations prevent communicable and infectious diseases. That’s really all that needs to be said on the subject, yes? Yet, because we live in the age of information (and misinformation), people have a deluge of ways to fall victim to confirmation bias and the Dunning-Kruger effect.

No matter your personal opinion on the subject, health officials such as nurses have a moral and professional obligation to support public health measures in their personal behavior. This whole-heartedly includes wearing a mask and getting vaccinated. 

Evidence-based care is the backbone of the nursing profession—we must stand on this foundation in order to educate the public on the efficacy of and rationale for getting vaccinated. (For nurses unsure of where to turn for reliable vaccine information, this FAQ  from the American Nurses Association and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists is a great resource!)

Unfortunately, a steady drip of misinformation has led a small but significant number of nurses toward vaccine hesitancy. So alarming has this push back been, that hospitals and clinics have moved beyond offering spa days and work perks as vaccine bait—they now have begun to mandate COVID-19 vaccines or risk termination altogether.

There has never been a time when it has been so important to model preventative health—and it is not hyperbole to stress that a life or death situation is currently playing out as a direct consequence to low vaccination rates. Hospitalization and deaths among the unvaccinated people continue to rise.

We know better, we must do better. 

Education is an inside job

For the nurses who are vaccine-hesitant, we owe it to them—and we collectively owe it to the public—to literally get our facts straight. The safety and efficacy of the vaccine is widely supported in the scientific community. Even the common argument: we don’t know the long-term effects! is waning with each passing day; the COVID-19 vaccine has been now been administered to millions of people over the span of almost a year.

We all need to be citing trusted sources—like the American Nurse’s Association vaccine resource site—to help muffle the deluge of conflicting information with up-to-date clinical data.

As trusted healthcare providers, nurses have the best chance of reaching those—and only those—within their communities. That means we need to be discussing the importance of vaccination, masking, and having faith in the scientific community with the people that already know and trust us. Just as headlines drive fear, nurses can diffuse it. 

If we can impart that we are willing and able to be curators of both dubious and valid health information, perhaps we will be successful in regaining the traction we've lost. We have the best chance through a ripple effect; through established relationships; through (gently but insistently) challenging family members and friends alike on perpetuating misinformation. It will not be easy. The only way to break through will come from compassion, patience, and perseverance. 

To those that have already taken this on, we thank you! And to those that haven’t—I’m sorry, but we need you to step up.

Discussions on Delta

The Delta variant has proved to be both a pandemic wild-card, and a predictable trajectory. We now know that fully vaccinated people can carry and transmit the Delta variant. Delta infects more people at a faster rate, and across the board, makes them sicker than strains we’ve encountered before.

While rates of serious illness requiring hospitalization and mortality for the vaccinated remain incredibly low, the fact that the virus can still be laid at the doorstep of the unvaccinated is very concerning. Most concerning of these unvaccinated are the children under 12. If our message about vaccination before was aimed at herd immunity, now it needs to be about preventing death. Indeed, the conversations surrounding COVID-related deaths have shifted from “what kinds of pre-existing conditions did this poor soul have?” to “how young was this one?” 

In order to encourage more young, healthy, and vaccine-hesitant patients to take the vaccine, we need to be willing to have conversations with them. They need to understand the virulence of the Delta variant, and how it impacts them.

The only silver lining to younger people succumbing to the virus is that now more people personally know someone who has had a bad outcome. It’s sad that is has come to this point, but people trust what they can see with their own eyes, along with that which affects them.

Caring for unvaccinated patients sick with COVID-19 is morally tricky. The ones who express remorse over their erroneous beliefs, the ones who are now begging anyone who will listen to get vaccinated, with these patients it’s easy to fall back into judgment. “I told you so,” is a powerful and righteous salve for our frustrated selves, but indignation is a fleeting and hollow victory. One that certainly doesn’t align with the core values of nursing.

I recently heard a nurse speaking on a podcast about vaccine education efforts. She was asked how she kept her frustration in check, how she kept caring for patients who had “done this to themselves.” 

Her simple summation proved to be the release valve on the pressurized exasperation I’ve felt, perhaps it will help you too: “If we judge them, we don’t have time to love them.”

God speed out there—may we all get a little more time to love each other.