Vaccination is one of America’s strongest tools for dealing with COVID-19, but getting people vaccinated requires two things: (1) enough vaccines and (2) enough people willing to be vaccinated. North Carolina has difficulties on both fronts.
As for supplying vaccines, North Carolina is only 24th in the nation for shots received from the federal government distributed and into arms. When it comes to demand, North Carolina is making strides. According to an article from Julie Havlak in Carolina Journal Wednesday, “Almost 70% of North Carolinians now plan to get a vaccine, a major improvement from 33% in October and up from 40.5% in December.”
According to an Elon University Poll of nearly 1,500 residents conducted at the end of January, residents of North Carolina still have many concerns. Havlak writes for Carolina Journal:
Almost two-thirds of residents remain worried about potential side-effects of a vaccine. Just 15% of respondents said they were “not worried at all.”
A fifth of respondents said they will refuse the vaccine, and almost a fourth remained unsure about getting vaccinated against COVID-19. Republicans were more likely than Democrats to express skepticism, with 26% of Republicans and only 14% of Democrats refusing the vaccine. Women are more likely to get vaccinated than men.
Read the full piece in Carolina Journal here.
