W E E K LY E D I T I O N | A U G . 3 1 - S E P T. 6 , 2 0 2 1 | O U D A I LY. C O M
INSIDE: 40-page OU football preview section
OUDAILY
The University of Oklahoma’s independent student voice since 1916
RAY BAHNER/THE DAILY
Oklahoma State Department of Health mobile RV vaccine clinic on Aug. 26.
Overcoming hesitancy Initial projections for OU community reaching herd immunity dashed due to vaccine skeptics, highly transmissible delta variant as cases continue to rise ARI FIFE @arriifife
Despite the university’s vaccination efforts, experts say the university has not reached herd immunity, due in part to vaccine hesitancy. OU Chief COVID Officer Dr. Dale Bratzler wrote in an email though younger people aren’t more susceptible to the delta variant, more are hospitalized because fewer are vaccinated. He wrote he believes fear of the delta variant has driven up vaccination rates, but many who remain unvaccinated will still get sick, and some will be hospitalized. As of Aug. 29, 59.1 percent of individuals in the 18-24 age group had at least one vaccine dose, compared to 62.6 percent of those in the 25-39 age group, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Additionally, 47.5 percent of the 18-24 age group is fully vaccinated, compared to 51.8 percent of the 25-39 age group. Dr. Aaron Wendelboe, an OU College of Public Health associate professor of biostatistics and epidemiology, said it’s “generally true” that vaccinated students are safe from the risk of serious COVID-19 infection. He said as current transmission rates increase beyond what they were in the height of the pandemic, exposure risks are higher for everyone. The opportunity for exposure is comparable to the lottery, Wendelboe said. Though an individual’s chance of getting infected from one
exposure is low, multiple exposures means heightened risk. Formerly a state epidemiologist, Wendelboe said he originally estimated 70 percent of the OU community would need to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity. Now, after discussing with Bratzler and others, and considering the delta variant’s higher transmission rate, he recommends an 85 percent threshold. Oklahoma has one of the highest vaccine-hesitant populations, according to the CDC. In Cleveland County, an estimated 16.51 percent of residents are unsure of whether they should get vaccinated. Wendelboe said the No. 1 reason many college students haven’t gotten vaccinated is “vaccine laziness.” While many students are relatively healthy, he said some don’t feel COVID19 is a big enough risk to their health, so they aren’t motivated to get the vaccine. Other contributors to hesitancy include concerns about the speed in which the vaccine was developed, possible side effects and unknown longterm effects, Wendelboe said. Criminology senior Lauren Gill said she avoided the vaccine for months until she realized how crucial it was after recovering from COVID-19. Gill said she’d always taken the pandemic seriously, despite trusting the opinions of her parents, who were against the vaccine. She wore a mask everywhere she went, but she feared the vaccine because she witnessed the side effects some of her vaccinated friends experienced.
On July 16-18, Gill said she and her family went on a trip to New Orleans for her mother’s birthday, where they went to a crowded bar one night. During that period, Louisiana’s 7-day average sat at 1,198 — more than double that of Oklahoma’s, according to the New York Times. Upon their return, Gill said her mother began feeling sick, but her family members assumed it was a cold. Gill was in the car with her roommate when her mother sent a picture of her positive COVID-19 test in her family’s group chat. “I remember my heart just dropping,” Gill said. Gill said she immediately told her roommate she had to get home to get tested and began her quarantine while she waited for test results. Her first test came back negative, but that same day, she was running a 101-degree fever and was stranded on her couch, in pain and unable to move. Gill knew she was positive at that point and asked to be retested, she said. The second test soon confirmed this. Gill’s fever lasted a week, and throughout her quarantine, she said she experienced every symptom possible. She also saw her roommate, who was vaccinated, experience a milder version. Watching her roommate’s smooth recovery caused Gill to change her opinion of the vaccine, and she got her first shot at a free walk-in clinic the first week of school. “It got to the point where I couldn’t eat … without (it) making me sick because of how
messed up it makes you,” Gill said. “It’s definitely not something that I would want to ever experience again.” Any place where people congregate closely increases the risk of COVID-19 transmission, Bratzler wrote, and even fully vaccinated people can get infected and spread the virus. If community members aren’t wearing masks, they’ll be at greater risk for infection. Student Government Association Undergraduate student congress chair and international security studies senior Crispin South said though the body has passed several resolutions encouraging students to wear masks and get vaccinated, its work has primarily been publicizing the safety and efficacy of vaccines and making sure people know where they can get them. South said he wants to work with larger student organizations, sororities and fraternities to promote vaccination. He also plans to work with administrators to ensure the university is implementing policies that will benefit students. “If we can get the message out to everybody on the lowest level possible, and make sure that information is distributed as widely as possible that the vaccines are safe and they’re effective, and that they will protect you from serious infection, I think that’s at least my goal,” South said. South said though administrators believe state law bars them from mandating masks and vaccinations, there are still creative ways to make vaccination “the path of least
resistance.” He referenced BirminghamSouthern College in Alabama’s COVID-19 response, which requires unvaccinated students to get tested weekly, with a $500 fee for each test. Students who have been vaccinated are exempt from weekly testing and will receive a $500 rebate. Wendelboe said he believes the best thing the university can do is “lower barriers” to vaccination and listen to community members. Administrators plan to encourage discussion of the vaccine through town halls in coming weeks, Wendelboe said. He said administrators are also in discussions about how best to incentivize vaccination. Wendelboe said he favors “aggressive testing” of unvaccinated students and would also support more punitive measures like fining students who continue to avoid vaccination. Though aggressive approaches to encouraging vaccinations can be effective, Wendelboe said it’s important to remember COVID-19 will remain a long-term issue. “I am definitely supportive of an approach that takes the long view, that listens to people and tries to balance out education with understanding behavior change and motivations,” Wendelboe said, “and that takes time.” South said, to his knowledge, most students are still taking COVID-19 seriously, but those who aren’t could elicit a rise in cases, which would be see VAX page 2