The Biden administration has made inroads to have more COVID-19 vaccinations after a weak rollout in December. On Tuesday, Biden said he expected the vaccine rollout will surpass the forecast of 100 million shots in his first 100 days.

But there has been resistance to the vaccine, and it isn't limited to just those who are considered "anti-vaxxers."

There are worries the vaccinated can still be carriers of the SARS-Cov-2 virus responsible for COVID-19, according to The Daily Beast. If there isn't total immunity, so goes the thinking, why bother?

The goal of vaccination is to essentially teach one's immune system how to recognize a threat such as SARS-Cov-2, then react to it.

The vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna have been proven safe and effective against severe COVID-19. But questions remain about how long the protection lasts, whether it prevents transmission of the virus, or potential mutations of the virus in response to the vaccine.

Politics colored much of the national response to COVID-19. The Trump administration tried repeatedly to wish the virus away and Politico noted that Republicans are trying to use the poor national response over the past year as a weapon against the early Biden administration.

Public health officials are hedging their bets. Their cautious advice is to get the vaccination as soon as possible. They are also encouraging people to continue social distancing and mask use. The mixed messaging is having the effect of increasing skepticism about the vaccine. That reluctance extends beyond the regular anti-vaxxer crowd.

M. Kate Grabowski and Justin Lessler, epidemiologists at Johns Hopkins, strongly recommend vaccination despite the questions.

"Critically, even if vaccines' efforts on COVID-19 transmission are imperfect and temporary, vaccination will still lead to massive decreases in the number of cases if – and only if – there is a wide uptake of vaccines in the general population," they wrote. "This is the surest way to get back to a place where we can all take part in the parties, dinners and simple office-cooler conversations we so crave."

A study published earlier this month in Nature was telling. It revealed online misinformation about the vaccines has led to a reluctance to commit to the shots.

A Realtime Research online survey of 5,537 Americans conducted from Dec. 4-14, showed that only 53% said they were willing to get the vaccine.

As of Tuesday, there have been an estimated 487,000 deaths in the U.S. due to COVID.

Doris Norman gets the Covid-19 vaccine in the United States, where minorities have died from the virus at higher rates than whites
Doris Norman gets the Covid-19 vaccine in the United States, where minorities have died from the virus at higher rates than whites AFP / Joseph Prezioso
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