Practicum Reflective Journal Week 2: Population Health Concerns

Practicum Reflective Journal Week 2: Population Health Concerns

This past week at the Kingstone Healthcare facility we have been preoccupied with population health concerns with regard to the novel coronavirus. The long-awaited SARS-CoV-2 vaccines finally arrived and we have been in the forefront in vaccinating the population and educating them. The objective is to bring about herd immunity by vaccinating a big percentage of the population. The response to the vaccination drive has been good except for a few cases of resistance to the vaccines borne out of the many myths being spread around. Of particular concern to me has been a pattern I have noted of persons from the African American community shunning the vaccines and refusing to be vaccinated (Jamison, 2020). This is inexplicable because the COVID-19 statistics clearly show that the African American community are disproportionately affected by the novel coronavirus compared to Caucasians for instance. Because of the resistance from some quarters, we have had to spend quite some time offering health education about the vaccine and its efficacy/ safety.Population Health Concerns Essay.

So what we have been doing this past week and will continue doing is offering education on the vaccines and dispelling rumors. After the education, we have been vaccinating. But the most important task we have been performing and which we performed admirably this past week is that of cautioning those who have been vaccinated not to throw caution to the wind.Population Health Concerns Essay. It has been our duty to let them know that having the vaccine administered to them does not necessarily make them immune immediately. They still have to wear masks, even after getting the second dose of the vaccine. The reason for this is that research is still going on to determine if persons who have been vaccinated can still shed the novel coronavirus and infect others (Willis, 2020). Because no one knows the answer to that right now, we have been educating the vaccinated to continue with the novel coronavirus infection prevention and control measures.