Covid-19: The Road Forward is Riddled with Skepticism
New Stanford Survey Reveals the Wide Gap in Attitude and Perception Impacting the Country’s Response to the Pandemic
September 24, 2020| By Laurie Flynn
Nearly half of Trump supporters may not get coronavirus vaccination once it’s available – and 21.8% of all the respondents to a new survey said they definitely would not get one. Greater than a third said they thought vaccines might have harmful effects that aren’t being disclosed to the public.
These are some of the findings of new research from Stanford’s Clinical Excellence Research Center (CERC) that reveal the depth of the cultural divide over vaccines and the effectiveness of preventative actions like mask-wearing and avoiding crowds.
“To our dismay, anti-vaccine sentiments are even more prevalent than expected,” CERC adjunct professors Jiayin Xue, MD, and Robert M. Kaplan, PhD, wrote in an Op-Ed that appeared in The Los Angeles Times on September 21.
The CERC researchers asked a demographically representative sample of 1,000 people from every US state during the last week of August for their opinion on a range of issues related to the pandemic. “Our survey suggests that fewer than 80% of Americans may get vaccinated for the coronavirus. In this scenario, even if a new vaccine were 80% effective, which is unlikely, only 64% of the public would be protected,” Xue and Kaplan wrote. That could dramatically slow the spread of the virus in the U.S., but the country would fall far short of herd immunity, they said.
That only 20% of the population might remain unvaccinated is optimistic, the survey found. Only slightly more than 60% of all respondents said they were very likely or somewhat likely to take the vaccine when one is available. And nearly half of Trump voters surveyed said it is definitely or probably true that vaccines have harmful effects that aren’t disclosed to the public.
None of this should come as a surprise, perhaps, if you consider that a great number of Trump supporters are simply unconcerned about getting sick. Only 28.3 of the Trump supporters said they are afraid of contracting the Covid-19 virus, compared to 67.7 of the Biden supporters surveyed.
Yet despite widespread suspicion by Trump supporters, public health officials still hold more sway on the vaccine than the President, the survey revealed. When asked whose advice they would trust, more than two-thirds responded that they would be very likely or somewhat likely to get the vaccine if Dr. Anthony Fauci assured the public it was safe and effective. Only 42.6% said they would do so on President Trump’s advice.
“Our survey suggests that fewer than 80% of Americans may get vaccinated for the coronavirus. In this scenario, even if a new vaccine were 80% effective, which is unlikely, only 64% of the public would be protected,
The survey also looked at attitudes about the government’s handling of the pandemic and whether mandated restrictions are necessary. Of those respondents who support Trump, 57.1% said they believed most people can be trusted to follow guidelines voluntarily, yet the survey also revealed that only 34.5% of those who describe themselves as conservative or very conservative were actually willing to wear a mask if the government advised them to do so. Nearly two-thirds of Biden supporters said they believe people need the government to enforce guidelines.
“Op-Ed: A COVID-19 vaccine is one thing. Getting Americans to take it is another”
JIAYIN XUE AND ROBERT M. KAPLAN