Poll: Many in state say they wouldn’t take vaccine.
Only a quarter of California adults say they would definitely get a vaccine against COVID19 if one were available today, a new survey found, an early warning of what could be problems in stemming the pandemic that already has killed more than 17,000 in the state.
A full 40% of Californians say they would probably or certainly not use the vaccine, a number that rises to 69% among African Americans, one of the groups hit hardest by the coronavirus, according to the poll by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California.
“This shows that the state’s policy makers and public health community have a lot of work to do to convince people that taking the vaccine is something they have to do,” said Mark Baldassare, the institute’s president and the poll’s director.
Concern about the vaccine crosses party lines. While 57% of all Californians say they would either definitely or probably get the vaccine, the number is 56% for Democrats, 50% for Republicans and 56% for independents. In the Bay Area, 67% say they would get the vaccine, compared with 50% in Los Angeles County, with its higher percentage of Black residents.
The new California numbers aren’t very different from those seen in national polls. An October survey done by the Harris Poll for Stat News found that 58% of
Americans said they would probably get a vaccination as soon as it was available. That was down from 69% in a midAugust poll.
There’s little doubt about the reason for the concern over the promised vaccine. The new California poll found that 68% of adults, including 76% of Black respondents and 73% of Asian Americans, believe that approval of any vaccine will move too fast, without enough concern for whether it is safe or effective.
Politics plays a role in those worries. For months, President Trump has been promising to have a vaccine approved and ready for distribution by late this year, possibly before the Nov. 3 election. Health experts, in warnings echoed by Trump’s Democratic opposition, have said the president’s time line is overly optimistic and doesn’t allow the pharmaceutical companies working on the vaccine enough time to finish their human safety trials.
Black Americans have been the group least supportive of Trump, which could help to explain why so many are unwilling to accept his assurances about a vaccine. A September survey by Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies found that just 11% of likely Black voters in California backed Trump over Democrat Joe Biden, the lowest of any racial group. In the new Public Policy Institute of California poll, only 16% of African Americans were happy with the job Trump was doing, compared with 39% of white respondents, 34% of Latinos and 25% of Asian Americans.
Partisan differences also show up in the vaccine poll. While 82% of Democrats and 73% of independents worry that the vaccine approval effort will move too quickly, only 51% of Republicans feel the same way. By contrast, 38% of Republicans are concerned that the government will move too slowly to approve a vaccine, compared with 15% of Democrats and 20% of independents.
Gov. Gavin Newsom tried to ease worries about a vaccine Monday, announcing that a state panel would review any vaccine approved by the U. S. Food and Drug
Administration to see that it is safe and effective. At least six other states plan to do the same.
It’s important for California and the nation to know the depth of public concern about any potential vaccine, Baldassare said.
“This is something we need to know now, when we still have enough time to do something about it,” before a vaccine is ready for use, he said.
The poll is based on a telephone survey taken Oct. 918 of 1,701 California adults. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5%.