As many as 66 million Americans may suffer from needle fear so severe that they threaten to delay herd immunity. But millions of U.S. residents who pass out or beat feet at the sight of a hypodermic needle are risking COVID rather than getting a shot in the arm. Even while most coronavirus deaths are among the unvaccinated — and other Americans prepare for booster shots — the phobics are digging in. A University of Oxford, England, study in June found that 10% of U.K. citizens declining COVID shots may have the phobia. But injury potential isn’t the core issue for those with injection fear, called blood-needle-injury phobia in the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,” a standard U.S. reference.

Source: The Herald September 03, 2021 15:00 UTC