Description
Vaccines for COVID-19 are the focus of the moment – politically and scientifically speaking. On the political front, there has not only been jockeying to try to squeeze the square peg of a vaccine development timeline into a round hole of political convenience, there is also skepticism expressed by a wary public that the process has become politicized – an unfortunate impression to be sure. Scientifically, there was the big news that a vaccine trial had experienced a serious adverse event bringing a pause to bear in its continuation, likely throwing further cold water on the political side of the equation. But eventually vaccine candidates will likely emerge as successful, developed and evaluated according to the FDA guidance laid out on the subject. What then? Who will take the vaccine and at what rate?
That question has been the subject of numerous polls which have found widely varying degrees of willingness among the public to the idea of taking a vaccine – an opinion that may be further influenced by the emergence of adverse events in the clinical trials. One poll found one-third would not take a vaccine; another found fewer than half; and one that found that only one in five would take a vaccine.
