State Sen. Stutts: Key to raising vaccination rates statewide is to involve primary care physicians

Policymakers statewide continue to grapple with a spike in COVID-19 as they seek ways to raise Alabama’s low vaccination rate relative to the rest of the country.

According to State Sen. Larry Stutts (R-Tuscumbia), one way to do so is a concerted effort to involve primary care physicians in the coronavirus vaccinations because he sees the primary care physician-patient relationship as something that could have been used to convince those so-called vaccine-hesitant individuals to get vaccinated.

Stutts, a practicing obstetrician, told Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5’s “The Jeff Poor Show” that an approach involving primary care physicians should have been taken early on.

“I think that the issue of encouraging people to do it — number one, it is certainly an individual choice,” he said. “We should not be in the position of mandating any type of health care — mandating that you have to get this or you have to do this or participate in that,” he explained. “It should be an individual choice, but we have to have accurate information out, and I think that is what it confusing to a lot of people — that there is so much information and some misinformation about is the vaccine effective, is the vaccine safe, who should take it and what age group should take it. And I think that has been confusing to a lot of people.”

“But I think the key in having more participation with vaccines is we should have involved the primary care physicians in the state early on in the process,” Stutts continued. “You know, most people don’t trust medicine in general. They don’t trust the government. Most people trust their individual doctor. So, if you had it more available in private offices, if you had it where your doctor could recommend that you could get the vaccine, you’re much more likely to take it than you are to go to a drive-thru clinic in a shopping center parking lot. And I understand we were trying to get mass vaccinations done early on. But I think the key to reaching people is with their individual doctor saying I would recommend you take this.”

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.