Henry Ford doctors combat vaccine hesitancy with open letter

FOX 2 - Some of the smartest medical minds in the Henry Ford Health System are trying to blunt the spread of misinformation surrounding the Covid vaccine.

The open letter has 56 signatures from top doctors and nurses at the health system appeared in newspapers and online this week.  

"What's frustrating is the amount of misinformation and politicization of this topic right now," said Dr. Adnan Munkarah, chief clinical officer at HFHS.

The bottom line, they say is stopping getting medical information related to Covid and the vaccine from inadequate sources on social media feeds.  

"We honor and respect everyone's opinion, but please seek data from people that are equipped and have the knowledge to tell you what works and doesn't," he said.  

The letter says "the science is clear, the vaccination provides the best protection against COVID-19 including unnecessary surges."

Munkarah says right now, out of about 100 positive or suspected positive in-patients, 13 have been fully vaccinated - the rest have not.  He adds if everyone would have gotten vaccinated that could, we wouldn’t be entering a fourth surge with such force.  

"We would not have been in (the situation) where beds and intensive care units and children's hospitals are filled with people with Covid," he said.

An urging from the doc, and his 55 colleagues - to ask questions…but to the right people.  

"We hope it will plateau soon...we hope we don't continue to see the rise," he said.