Some NYC healthcare workers 'unwilling to take' COVID-19 vaccine

NEW YORK - Officials say that those "unwilling to take" the COVID-19 vaccine include a number of healthcare workers across the city and state.

"I have heard about reluctance. I must say that being surprised doesn't mean I didn't expect it," said Dr. Waleed Javaid, Director of Infection Prevention at Mount Sinai Hospital Downtown.

New York prioritized frontline healthcare professionals among the first group to receive the COVID-19 vaccine when it became available, however, the state is reporting that over 30% of healthcare workers have refused or declined to be vaccinated.

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Dr. Javaid told FOX 5 NY that the reasons for people declining to get vaccinated are fairly wide-ranging.

"The vaccine is made very quickly, it's not really authorized, it might not have the right products. I've heard people say it has nanochips it might control my mind or their mind or something," Dr. Javaid said.

According to Dr. Mitchell Katz, the head of NYC Health and Hospitals, part of the reluctance is because many frontline workers are actually survivors of the first wave of the coronavirus.

"Many of them actually got sick and know their antibody tighters. Many of them feel like 'Well, if I didn't get sick after doing all of this, I'm not gonna get it.'"

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However, Katz added that the majority of the city's frontline workers are getting the vaccine and that he and other officials are not worried that any frontline reluctance will transfer to the general public.