Texans now appear a little more likely to get vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus than a few months ago, according to a new survey.
The survey, conducted by the Episcopal Health Foundation, found 63 percent of people in the state say they’re likely to get the vaccine when it becomes available. The percentage was 59 in a survey the foundation released in October.
The percentage is up significantly from a University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll conducted in October. It found only 42 percent of Texans said they’d get the vaccine.
The phrasing of the two surveys was different. The UT/TT survey asked if respondents would get a low-cost coronavirus vaccine if it were available; the Episcopal foundation survey asked if respondents were “very likely/unlikely” or “somewhat likely/unlikely” to get the vaccine.
Thirty-seven percent said they were “very likely” to get the vaccine in both the new poll and the one released in October. The number “somewhat likely” grew from 22 to 26 percent.
The number “very unlikely” to get the vaccine dropped from 28 to 20 percent.
See here for more on that UT/Texas Tribune poll, here for the Episcopal Health press release, and here for the poll data. I believe the number of people who want to get vaccinated will continue to rise, though there’s certainly a ceiling on it. Some of that is partisan – there’s a distinct split in this poll – and some of it is the usual anti-vaxxer BS. Overall, though, I think a combination of the desire to return to normalcy and general societal acceptance of the vaccine will get us to a decent level. There will still be the need to do outreach, and to meet people where they are on this. We can’t afford to take any chances with this.
So if one disagrees with Kuffner it is BS, then a large number of Japanese disagree with Kuffner, they tend to be more cautious which normally is the way we should proceed.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/japan-covid-vaccine-skeptics/2020/12/18/ef32c25e-3a31-11eb-aad9-8959227280c4_story.html
I will use one example as to why one should proceed with caution,
“The main lesson from this study, according to its researchers, was that having diabetes makes liver-related outcomes worse if you have NAFLD. But it also showed that what drug you take for your diabetes may have an effect on these outcomes, raising or lowering your already elevated risk of liver disease, needing a liver transplant, or death.”
Black people are also wary of the vaccine;
https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/17/opinions/african-americans-covid-vaccine-sacks/index.html
From the article;
Still, we should approach it with healthy skepticism about potential side effects and serious adverse reactions. Because the vaccine came to market so quickly, we do not have long-term safety studies, and there are still many unanswered questions.