‘A Most Welcome Spring.’

That’s the title of the editorial in the recently published April issue of AJN. And if you receive the print issue or go to our Web site, www.ajnonline.com, I think you’ll see that our cover reflects an image that harkens to the end of a hard pandemic winter of isolation and—for many families—desolation. Spring has arrived, along with a feeling of hope that the vaccines will allow the world to open again, IF we can do so with caution and are successful in vaccine campaigns.

Remembering the relief at having a polio vaccine.

I was in kindergarten when Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine was rolled out. I remember my mother telling me that everyone was going to be getting a new medicine and I vividly recall my entire class lining up to get the injection from the school nurse.

I remember my mother being very happy about it because a boy in the neighborhood—a friend of my brother—had had polio and now wore leg braces and used crutches. When she saw him, she would sometimes say, “too bad the vaccine came too late for John.”

Nurses’ role in addressing vaccine concerns.

Photo by Jon Tyson/Unsplash

I’m sure some families who have lost members feel that way about the COVID-19 vaccines and are anxious to get them and have other family members receive them—witness the long lines at the mass vaccination centers.

There are many people, however, who are hesitant to receive the vaccine for a variety of reasons. And this is where nurses come in—where we can use our 14-year run of being named “the most trusted profession” in Gallup’s annual survey—to talk facts and science to the public and dismiss misconceptions and blatant untruths.

Vaccines save lives. Now we have an option that could eliminate the threat of widespread transmission of COVID-19, just as we did with smallpox and polio and, almost, measles.

A webinar on dispelling vaccine myths.

AJN hosted a webinar on February 26, Disseminating Facts, Dispelling Myths: Building COVID Vaccine Confidence in Communities. (you can watch the archived version). After an update on the vaccines presented by Capt. Janell Routh, MD, MHS, co-deputy of the CDC’s Vaccine Implementation Unit, community health leaders discussed various strategies to reach communities with science-based information. As I note in the April editorial:

Nurses need to be out in the community—in schools, libraries, senior centers, wherever our neighbors gather—to help address vaccine hesitancy and ensure that people have accurate information. Spring heralds a new beginning—let’s help do our part to ensure it blossoms into a full and life-affirming season.