WINK poll: Majority would not get COVID-19 vaccine immediately

Reporter: Gail Levy Writer: Jack Lowenstein
Published: Updated:
FILE – In this March 16, 2020, file photo, a patient receives a shot in the first-stage safety study clinical trial of a potential vaccine for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle. When precious vats of COVID-19 vaccine are finally ready, the ability to jab the lifesaving solution into the arms of Americans will require hundreds of millions of injections. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

A vaccine is what’s needed during the coronavirus pandemic, but people we’ve spoken to in Southwest Florida are mixed about a future vaccine for COVID-19.

In a Facebook poll we shared July 2, we asked, with a coronavirus vaccine in the works, if you would consider getting it when it’s ready.

  • The results: 35% yes, 65% no.

With the number of cases rising, we asked the same question again Tuesday.

“I’m pro-vaccine because I’m pro-science,” Marc Schaeffer said.

A large majority of Facebook followers who took the new poll want no part of a new vaccine.

 

“When you look to find out if a vaccine is safe or effective, you don’t listen to the vice president as head of the task force, you listen to the scientist,” Schaeffer said.

For Leslie Myers, the race to get a vaccine is alarming.

“I feel like at this point they’re kind of rushing it,” Myers said, who would not get a vaccine immediately. “It makes sense that they would rush it. We need to find a cure for this or rather a vaccine for it.”

Knowing that large numbers of people are wary of a vaccine, the CDC said it is working on a plan to “boost vaccine confidence.” Expect to see that campaign in the weeks to come.

Even with the possibilities of a vaccine, Myers already feels stress for multiple reasons due to the pandemic, including the safety of her children.

“I look at my kids, and I’m already like, ‘They’re already going back to school,’” Myers said. “So it’s kind of like I’m making a guinea pig out of them for that, so I just, I feel like I’m at a constant game of tug of war.”

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