Elon Poll finds North Carolinians wary of COVID-19 vaccine

Dec. 11--An Elon University poll conducted last weekend revealed that the majority of North Carolina residents are still wary of the new COVID-19 vaccinations and are either unsure or don't plan to take it.

The survey of nearly 1,400 adults in the state, conducted Dec. 4 through 6, found that only 40 percent of North Carolinians say they will take an FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine. About as many survey respondents said they are unsure about taking the vaccine, with the remaining 20 percent saying they don't plan to be vaccinated.

Respondents who said they plan to take the vaccine said they view it as a way to protect themselves and their friends and family, according to a release form the university.

"I want to see my family, my aging parents who don't want us potentially spreading it to them," one woman from Mecklenburg County told pollsters. "I haven't seen them in a year."

At the end of the poll, 40.5 percent of respondents said they plan to get vaccinated. This percentage is still an increase over a previously conducted Elon Poll this fall in which only 33 percent of respondents said they would get the vaccine.

Those with opposing views had mixed reasoning, ranging from distrust of the FDA to fear of potential side effects to concerns over individual rights violations.

"I do not trust taking a new vaccine," one woman from Pasquotank County responded. "I feel as if they are unsure and they are just experimenting on people and this could turn out very badly."

The university poll found that 20.5 percent of respondents do not plan to get the COVID-19 vaccine. This percentage has decreased since the university's poll in October, during which 25 percent of respondents said they would not get the vaccine.

Meanwhile, the undecided respondents cited the quick approval processes and potential health problems as reasons to hold off.

"I need to find out more information about the vaccine," one man from Onslow County said.

Some survey respondents in this group also noted that others may need the vaccine more than them.

Thirty-nine percent of respondents said they were undecided about getting vaccinated. This group saw the least change from the fall survey, down only from 42 percent.

"New with this survey was the opportunity for respondents to offer a short explanation about their choice," the university said.

A male resident of Transylvania County said he will take the vaccine because, "I can't take living in fear anymore. I'm so sick and have been putting off seeing a doctor for months because I'm so scared of getting COVID and even more afraid of spreading it. I have no kind of life anymore and feel like the vaccine is worth the risk since I already can't do anything."

On the other hand, a female resident of Lenoir County said, "The most important reason for saying "No" to taking an FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine is: I am afraid of the side effects and it was made too fast. I do not have a clue what is in the vaccine, if I am allergic to any parts of the vaccine, and a lot of unanswered questions linger in my mind."

In addition to whether or not they would get vaccinated, survey respondents were asked additional questions on who should get vaccinated first or if they are in a rush to get the vaccine.

About three-fourths of respondents said they believe the most at-risk individuals should be vaccinated first, with the remainder saying the vaccine should go first to those most at-risk of spreading the virus, the survey found.

Additionally, 68 percent of residents said they were wary of being first in line to get vaccinated.

Demographics

Pollsters also took a look at gender, political, age and racial divides in the results.

Forty-eight percent of men and 33 percent of women said they planned to take the vaccine, with 36 percent of men and 42 percent of women saying they would not. Sixteen percent of men and 25 percent of women said it depends.

Forty-three percent of white residents said they will take the vaccine compared to 27 percent of Black residents. Black residents were more likely to say "it depends," with 30 percent offering that response compared to 19 percent of white residents. While 43 percent of Black residents said they do not plan to take the vaccine, 39 percent of white residents also hold that view.

Democrats were more likely to say they will take the vaccine than Republicans or those not affiliated with either party, and residents over the age of 65 were more likely to say they will take the vaccine than those in other younger cohorts.

Trust in the FDA

Fifty-six percent of respondents said the FDA, the agency responsible for approving the COVID-19 vaccine, is trustworthy, while 22 percent disagreed.

One in four agreed with the statement "some individuals have tampered with the vaccine process for bad purposes," the survey found. Thirty-eight percent said they disagreed with this statement, while 37 percent remained neutral.

"Residents were generally trusting of the FDA's vaccine-approval process and with the length of time that it took to determine if a vaccine was safe," the university said.

Sixty-four percent agreed with the statement that "by the time I can get the vaccine, doctors will have had enough time to determine if the vaccine is safe" with only 15 percent disagreeing.

Other questions

In addition to asking survey respondents if they would get vaccinated, the poll also "asked respondents to weigh in on a range of statements about the development and potential impact of the vaccine," the university said.

While 70 percent of the respondents agreed that vaccines could help end the pandemic and more than half (56 percent) said that vaccines will be effective in preventing the disease, more than one-third (37 percent) of respondents said they believe the vaccine could be more dangerous than COVID-19 itself.

"Residents were nearly evenly divided when asked to respond to the statement 'the vaccine might be more dangerous than COVID-19 itself,' with 34 percent saying they agree, 37 percent saying they disagree and the remaining 29 percent saying they neither agree nor disagree," the survey found.

The cost of the vaccine was also questioned during the survey, with 47 percent of respondents saying they believe they'll be able to afford the vaccine and 24 percent having concerns over the cost.

The poll also found that a majority of North Carolinians are supportive of requiring vaccines for employees of private companies and for students in K-12 schools and universities.

"Fifty-four percent of residents said private employers should require employees to be vaccinated compared to 46 percent who disapproved of that idea. The required vaccination of college students was the most popular, with 61 percent of respondents supporting that move. The poll found that 57 percent of residents approve of requiring K-12 students to be vaccinated," the university said.

The poll also found that "two-thirds of the state's residents now personally know someone who has contracted coronavirus, compared to 50 percent in October and 31 percent in June," the university said. "That increase comes as North Carolina and the country have seen a surge in the number of coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths."

Trust in leadership

The final portion of the university's most recent survey asked respondents several questions to gauge their level of trust in state and national leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the state level, 52 percent of respondents said Gov. Roy Cooper was very or somewhat trustworthy, while 34 percent said they trust Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.

Nationally, Dr. Anthony Fauci, an infectious disease expert who has been one of the most prominent leaders during the COVID-19 response, was deemed most trustworthy, with 58 percent of residents saying he was very or somewhat trustworthy. Fifty-one percent said President-elect Joe Biden was very or somewhat trustworthy and 38 percent said the same about President Donald Trump, the poll found.

Vaccine rollout

The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine could be approved and recommended by Sunday, North Carolina health secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen said Thursday.

A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory committee met Thursday to review the clinical data from the Pfizer trials. If the FDA approves the vaccine, another advisory committee with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) then has to determine which groups of the population it recommends receive the drug. This, Cohen said, could happen Sunday.

The state health department selected 11 facilities with ultra-cold storage capabilities to receive early vaccine shipments within the next few days. None can administer the vaccine until the FDA authorizes its use and the CDC makes its recommendations. Once the CDC issues its recommendations, the state anticipates roughly 40 other hospitals will receive vaccine doses within a few days.

"I want to caution everyone that we are just at the beginning of this," Cohen said, noting that this rollout is very much a work in progress with many questions still to be answered, including how many additional doses North Carolina will receive in future weeks beyond the 85,500 doses the state has received in its first batch.

North Carolina will start releasing data on who has received the vaccine on Dec. 22, with Cohen stating the information will then be updated weekly.

Cohen took time Thursday to reassure the public that the vaccine development process was safe.

"Although the vaccines were developed quickly, they were built upon years of scientific work in developing vaccines for similar viruses," she said. "More than 70,000 people participated in clinic trials for both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to see if they were safe and effective. And preliminary data shows that they are nearly 95% effective in preventing COVID-19 with minimal safety concerns."

Brian Gordon and Gareth McGrath contributed to this story.

___

(c)2020 Times-News (Burlington, N.C.)

Visit Times-News (Burlington, N.C.) at www.thetimesnews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.