AP-NORC poll: Half of Americans would get a COVID-19 vaccine

A4 Thursday, May 28, 2020 The Palm Beach Post REAL NEWS STARTS HERE

By Lauran Neergaard

and Hannah Fingerhut

The Associated Press

Only about half of

Americans say they would

get a COVID-19 vaccine if

the scientists working furi-

ously to create one succeed,

a number that’s surprisingly

low considering the effort

going into the global race for

a vaccine.

But more people might

eventually roll up their

sleeves: The new poll from

The Associated Press-NORC

Center for Public Affairs

Research found 31% simply

weren’t sure if they’d get

vaccinated. Another 1 in 5

said they’d refuse.

Health experts already

worry about the whiplash

if vaccine promises like

President Donald Trump’s

goal of a 300 million-dose

stockpile by January fail.

Only time and science will

tell -- and the new poll

shows the public is indeed

skeptical.

“It’s always better to

under-promise and over-

deliver,” said Dr. William

Schaffner, an infectious dis-

ease specialist at Vanderbilt

University Medical Center.

“The unexpected looms

large and that’s why I think

for any of these vaccines,

we’re going to need a large

safety database to provide

the reassurance,” he added.

Among Americans who

say they wouldn’t get vac-

cinated, 7 in 10 worry about

safety.

“I am not an anti-vaxxer,”

said Melanie Dries, 56, of

Colorado Springs, Colorado.

But, “to get a COVID-19

vaccine within a year or two

... causes me to fear that it

won’t be widely tested as to

side effects.”

Dr. Francis Collins,

who directs the National

Institutes of Health, insists

safety is the top priority.

The NIH is creating a master

plan for testing the leading

COVID-19 vaccine candi-

dates in tens of thousands of

people, to prove if they really

work and also if they’re safe.

“I would not want people

to think that we’re cutting

corners because that would

be a big mistake. I think this

is an effort to try to achieve

efficiencies, but not to sac-

rifice rigor,” Collins told the

AP earlier this month.

“Definitely the worst thing

that could happen is if we

rush through a vaccine that

turns out to have significant

side effects,” Collins added.

Among those who want

a vaccine, the AP-NORC

poll found protecting them-

selves, their family and

the community are the top

reasons.

“I’m definitely going to get

it,” said Brandon Grimes, 35,

of Austin, Texas. “As a father

who takes care of his family, I

think ... it’s important for me

to get vaccinated as soon as

it’s available to better protect

my family.”

And about 7 in 10 of those

who would get vaccinated

say life won’t go back to

normal without a vaccine.

A site foreman for his fam-

ily’s construction business,

Grimes travels from house to

house interacting with dif-

ferent crews, and said some

of his coworkers also are

looking forward to vaccina-

tion to minimize on-the-job

risk.

The new coronavirus is

most dangerous to older

adults and people of any age

who have chronic health

problems such as diabetes or

heart disease. The poll found

67% of people 60 and older

say they’d get vaccinated,

compared with 40% who are

younger.

And death counts sug-

gest black and Hispanic

Americans are more vulner-

able to COVID-19, because

of unequal access to health

care and other factors. Yet

the poll found just 25% of

African Americans and 37%

of Hispanics would get a

vaccine compared to 56% of

whites.

AP-NORC poll: Half of

Americans would get

a COVID-19 vaccine

By Kimberlee Kruesi

The Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. —

Tennessee will soon stop

providing the names and

addresses of COVID-19

patients to first responders,

after initially arguing that

doing so would protect those

on the front line.

Gov. Bill Lee’s administra-

tion decided on the change this

week, conceding that the data

may have created a false sense

of security to those responding

to emergency calls. The data

sharing will stop at the end of

the month.

The announcement follows

an Associated Press review

that found public officials in

at least two-thirds of states

are sharing the addresses of

people who tested positive

with first responders. A small

handful of those states, includ-

ing Tennessee at the time, also

shared the patients’ names.

Supporters argue that the

information is vital to helping

them take extra precautions to

avoid contracting and spread-

ing the coronavirus. Yet civil

liberty and community activ-

ists have expressed repeated

concerns of potential profil-

ing in African American and

Hispanic communities that

already have an uneasy rela-

tionship with law enforcement.

“Individuals who have

COVID-19 but who have not

sought testing because they do

not have symptoms may unin-

tentionally transmit the virus

to your personnel because

the need to wear appropriate

PPE was not apparent,” wrote

Todd Skelton, legal counsel for

Lee’s coronavirus task force, in

a Tuesday email. “Therefore,

first responders and law

enforcement are encouraged

to treat all close interactions

with individuals with appro-

priate precautions.”

Skelton added that personal

protection equipment is now

“more readily attainable” for

first responders. In his email,

Skelton noted that more than

1.4 million PPE items had been

shipped to law enforcement

and others across the state.

Earlier this year, the

Department of Health had

originally declined to hand

over the COVID-19 patient

data, warning that wearing

protective equipment only in

those cases of confirmed ill-

ness is unlikely to guarantee

their protection.

That decision was eventually

overturned by the governor’s

office after law enforcement

reached out to his office plead-

ing it was needed to stay safe.

Lee later told reporters that

the patient data sharing policy

would be temporary and could

change when more informa-

tion and protection equipment

became available.

Sharing the information does

not violate medical privacy

laws, according to guidance

issued by the U.S. Department

of Health and Human Services.

But it hasn’t stopped concerns

about how the information was

being used.

The American Civil Liberties

Union, Tennessee Black

Caucus and others had all

called for a stop to the sharing

of data with law enforcement.

At least eight states are

continuing to share patient

names with law enforcement:

Iowa, Louisiana, Nevada,

New Hampshire, New Jersey,

North Dakota, Ohio and South

Dakota. Wisconsin did so

briefly but stopped earlier this

month.

Colorado officials also con-

firmed on Wednesday that

local health departments had

stopped sharing names and

addresses with law enforce-

ment because the community

transmission of COVID-19 had

become so widespread.

Colorado has had more than

25,000 positive cases and more

than 1,100 deaths linked to the

virus.

In Tennessee, law enforce-

ment officials have been

instructed to “delete and/or

shred” the patient data pro-

vided by the state within 30

days, according to Skelton’s

email.

Tennessee to halt sharing

COVID-19 patient data

In this May 4 photo from the University of Maryland School

of Medicine, the ﬁrst patient enrolled in Pﬁzer’s COVID-19

coronavirus vaccine clinical trial at the University of Maryland

School of Medicine in Baltimore, receives an injection.

[UNIVERSITY

OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF MEDICINE VIA AP]