“If a COVID-19 vaccine is available, I plan to be vaccinated.” Do you strongly agree, strongly disagree or something in between?
That’s the first scenario posed in a survey called “How Do You Feel About a COVID-19 Vaccine” launched Monday, Sept. 28, by Orange County’s Health Care Agency.
The 16-part survey poses several hypotheticals – such as “I am completely confident that vaccines are safe” and “COVID-19 is not so severe that I should get vaccinated” – meant to gauge public interest in a coronavirus shot once one becomes widely available.
“The information you provide will be of great assistance in planning for distribution of the vaccine when it becomes available,” Health Care Agency officials tweeted. Officials with the agency did not respond to questions by deadline.
The survey also asks for demographic information, such as gender, age range, race and ethnicity, occupation and city of residence. And it asks whether respondents plan to get a flu shot, or already have.
The survey will be open through Oct. 9. It also is being conducted in Spanish and six other languages.
Health experts suspect a COVID-19 vaccine won’t be universally rolled out until next year.
Dr. Charles Bailey, medical director for infection prevention at two Providence hospitals, Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo and St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, said when the time comes, people will pay less attention to pandemic politics and consider their personal health when considering whether, and when, to get the shot.
“Once the election comes and goes, some of that political flavor may drop off the vaccine discussion,” Bailey said.
As flu season ramps up, Bailey predicts a big push for vaccines, particularly as a means to rule out COVID-19’s similar main symptoms of fever, cough, shortness of breath and fatigue.
“If any year has a strong case to get (a flu shot) early, this would be it,” he said.
Because flu vaccines have just started rolling out, Bailey said it’s too early for the medical community to tell whether pandemic skepticism or opposition to public health orders will cause lower participation rates this season.
Public health agencies likely will try to vaccinate those who are most vulnerable to the coronavirus first, he said, while generally healthier people could wait.
By the time a COVID-19 injection is released, it should have passed through strict testing protocols, Bailey said.
And while a vaccine is in the works, scientists, doctors and public health officials each day are learning more about the coronavirus and are honing effective prevention and treatment practices, Bailey said.
Health officials launched the survey a day before Orange County is expected to drop from the red tier of the state’s four-level tracking system to the orange tier with its more relaxed business and public sector restrictions, following weeks of improving pandemic metrics.
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