Nurse practitioner Rachel Stewart has a , north of Fort Worth, that opened in spring 2020. Even though COVID-19 case numbers are waning in North Texas, she still sees people with symptoms of the virus, and consistently asks all of her patients about their vaccine status.
鈥淚 do ask that question, every new patient that comes in: Have you had any COVID vaccines? Are you planning to get a COVID vaccine? If you haven鈥檛, why are you not getting them?鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a daily conversation.鈥�
. The remaining folks are more likely to be persuaded after a one-on-one conversation with a doctor who knows them.
Stewart, for example, talks to patients about her own decision to get the vaccine.
鈥淵es, my arm was sore. Yes, I did have some fever and some headache for a few hours,鈥� she tells them. 鈥淏ut I feel comfortable in the fact that I鈥檓 not going to end up in the hospital on a ventilator.鈥�
COVID-19 vaccine mega-sites in Texas with the for the shot. Vaccinations at The Potter鈥檚 House Church in Dallas ended in May, and AT&T Stadium in Arlington stopped giving vaccines in April. The large site at Fair Park is .
That leaves chain pharmacies, hospitals and smaller clinics as the main ways people will be able to seek out and obtain a vaccine.
If they want one.
鈥淭rust is the only thing鈥� that will move the remaining people to get the vaccine, said Dr. Salma Saiger.
Saiger has built up trust with her patients over the 11 years she鈥檚 , just east of Dallas. She thinks people will put their reservations aside and get the vaccine after being counseled by their doctor.
鈥淚f, okay, my primary care doctor has taken care of me, she鈥檚 always given me good advice, she鈥檚 never misled me, [and] she鈥檚 telling me something 鈥� okay, I鈥檒l trust her,鈥� Saiger said.
Combined, the five providers in Saiger鈥檚 office vaccinate fewer than 10 people a day for COVID-19 鈥� a far cry from the early days, when Saiger said her cell phone was 鈥渢he most popular鈥� number.
The big rush is long over, and the remaining patients generally fall into two groups: People okay with getting the vaccine, but who haven鈥檛 gotten around to it, and those who need some persuasion.
Patient skepticism comes from all kinds of things. Social media posters . But it鈥檚 easy to forget that news of the vaccine came fast on the heels of the virus, even though the technique used for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines . That speed gave many people pause.
鈥淭o me, I was kind of skeptical at first, because I was like, okay, so how did they do a COVID vaccine so quick?鈥� said Yajaira Pardo of Kaufman, one of Saiger鈥檚 patients. 鈥淭hat was my biggest question.鈥�
Pardo, a medical assistant in a pediatric clinic, first talked about the vaccine with Saiger on a visit unrelated to coronavirus. She then mulled it over with her husband, who thought getting vaccinated was a good idea. At a follow-up visit with Saiger, they talked about the vaccine again.
In the end, Saiger鈥檚 own story about getting her family vaccinated helped convince Pardo to get the shot.
鈥淪he told me that since we鈥檙e all in the medical field, that it鈥檚 very important for us to set that example to our family,鈥� Pardo said. 鈥淭hat is one of the things that really clicked in my head and made me think about it really hard.鈥�
The press conferences and news reports featuring government officials or experts didn鈥檛 sway her. Pardo said if it weren鈥檛 for her primary care doctor, she wouldn鈥檛 have gotten vaccinated.
Primary care providers work in many different types of medical settings. The Texas Department of State Health Services does track the number of vaccine doses administered by facility type, although "primary care provider" is not a specific category, according to an agency spokesperson.
There's no question primary care doctors like Rachel Stewart and Salma Saiger are in demand. According to , the supply of full-time primary care doctors seeing adults in 2018 was only about 78% of what was needed in Texas.
In interviews, both considered their administration of the COVID-19 vaccine to be a public service 鈥� a way to help their communities stay healthy.
鈥淲e are the backbone [of] medicine, right?鈥� Saiger said. 鈥淧atients come to us first, they listen to our advice first. So I think that will be a very major role for all primary care doctors to do.鈥�
Got a tip? Email Bret Jaspers at bjaspers@kera.org. You can follow Bret on Twitter .
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