A majority of Wyoming residents surveyed for a University of Wyoming poll would be likely to take the coronavirus vaccine when it becomes available.
The survey conducted by the UW’s Survey and Analysis Center showed that 40.7% of the 519 people polled would be very likely to take the vaccine, while 21.4% would be somewhat likely to get it.
The survey, conducted Dec. 7, also showed that 27.2% of those questioned would be very unlikely to get the vaccine and another 10.7% would be somewhat unlikely to take it.
The percentage of people who would be very likely to get the vaccine increased by 2.7% from November, but is a decline of almost 13 percentage points from late March, the first time the question was posed in the center’s regular survey.
Among those who said they were somewhat or very unlikely to get the vaccine, 69.8% said they were concerned about potential side effects from the vaccine and 59.3% said they want to know more about how well the vaccine will work.
Another major reason for not taking the vaccine for 51.7% of those questioned was they do not believe they need it.
The survey is the 11th conducted by the center focusing on public opinions about the coronavirus pandemic. The same survey showed a decline in support for the actions of Gov. Mark Gordon to slow the spread of the illness.
In the December survey, 54.1% said they strongly or somewhat approved of Gordon’s actions, a decline of 5.8 percentage points from November. At the same time, the share of those saying the somewhat or strongly disapprove of Gordon’s actions increased by 5.5 percentage points to total 43.1%.
The people surveyed were members of the center’s WyoSpeaks panel, a group of people who have indicated they would be willing to be surveyed about issues facing the state. The margin of error for the survey was 4.3 percentage points.
