Top US health official: 'Flat-earthers' hurting COVID -19 vaccination rates

"Because some flat-earthers – especially those in places of influence – choose to peddle fiction, we're losing more loved ones today than we were a few months ago. Flat earthers – meet delta."

Xavier Becerra

U.S. Secretary for Health and Human Services

President Joe Biden's top human services official on Tuesday urged Kentuckians to keep up the fight to get more people vaccinated against COVID-19 – and to keep fighting misinformation.

"My friends, the earth really is round," Xavier Becerra, U.S. Secretary for Health and Human Services, said in a speech Tuesday at an online forum hosted by the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.

"Because some flat-earthers – especially those in places of influence – choose to peddle fiction, we're losing more loved ones today than we were a few months ago," Becerra said. "Flat earthers – meet delta."

The relatively new delta variant of COVID-19, spreading largely among the unvaccinated, has resulted in a surge of new cases in Kentucky and nationwide.

It has overwhelmed hospitals and increased deaths of Americans, now in excess of 660,000 since the start of the pandemic, Becerra said.

"The delta variant besieging our nation is faster, stronger and more contagious," Becerra said. "It went from accounting for 1% of cases in May to being the beast behind the vast majority of cases today."

The COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective and everyone needs to do their part to try to end the pandemic that has upended so many lives, Becerra said.

"What we have to do isn't rocket science," he said. "Get vaccinated."

Becerra spoke at the annual Howard L. Bost Memorial Health Policy Forum, named after a prominent Kentucky physician who helped found the Albert B. Chandler Medical Center at the University of Kentucky.

This year's topic: "Vaccine hesitancy a public health crisis."

Ben Chandler, CEO of the foundation, said the state is at risk of "unraveling 50 years of vaccine policy that has protected us from devastating infectious disease" by the rejection of COVID-19 and other vaccines.

Chandler, the grandson of A.B. "Happy" Chandler, the late former Kentucky governor and U.S. senator for whom the UK medical center is named, introduced Becerra, with whom he served in Congress.

"Throughout his career, I can tell you, he has been committed to ensuring Americans have access to affordable health care," said Chandler, a former U.S. representative and Kentucky attorney general.

Becerra, a former congressman and state attorney general from California, singled out fellow Democrat Gov. Andy Beshear – whom he knew when they were both attorneys general – for "his smart, decisive action to fight COVID-19 and get more Kentuckians vaccinated."

In Kentucky, 70% of Kentuckians 12 or older have received at least one dose of the COVD-19 vaccine, Beshear said at a news conference Monday. It is not yet authorized for children under 12 though Pfizer-BioNTech announced Monday it is ready to seek federal approval for a lower dose of its vaccine for children ages 5-11.

But Beshear says many more Kentuckians must get vaccinated to slow the spread of COVID-19 that is overwhelming hospitals and driving up deaths, increasingly among younger Kentuckians.

August was the worst month so far for COVID-19 cases in Kentucky, with 104,000 reported and about 30% of eligible Kentuckians still unvaccinated, Beshear said Monday.

Chandler said Tuesday that recent polling by the foundation showed resistance to the COVID-19 vaccine has decreased.

In March 29% of those polled said they would not or probably would not take the vaccine but new results released last week showed that had dropped to 20% opposed to it.

Further results suggest there might be a way to reach that 20% most resistant to the vaccine, Chandler said.

The poll found that 82% of the 500 people polled reported they follow the advice of their physician or other health care provider when it comes to vaccines, Chandler said.

Yet 80% said they had not been contacted by their health provider about the COVID-19 vaccine. Also, 84% said they had not been contacted by their health insurance provider, Chandler said.

"Would doctors and health insurance providers reaching out have made a difference?" Chandler asked. "I don't know the answer to that, but it's certainly worth a try in the future."

The Kentucky Medical Association said it has been working to encourage vaccination since the first COVID-19 vaccines became available late last year.

"Physicians across the state are having conversations with their patients about the COVID-19 vaccine every day," said spokeswoman Emily Schott.

The association also is updating testimonials from physicians and patients as part of a "Take it from Me" social media campaign, joined by the foundation, the Kentucky Hospital Association and the Kentucky Primary Care Association, she said.

"Physicians are exercising every possible avenue to encourage vaccination," Schott said.

Reach Deborah Yetter at [email protected]. Find her on Twitter at @d_yetter. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/subscribe.

"Because some flat-earthers – especially those in places of influence – choose to peddle fiction, we're losing more loved ones today than we were a few months ago. Flat earthers – meet delta."

Xavier Becerra

U.S. Secretary for Health and Human Services