A lot of Kentuckians believe the COVID pandemic is pretty much done. That's according to a new poll from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky. President and CEO Ben Chandler says 814 Kentucky adults were asked if the pandemic was over.
“About one-third said ‘yes, it’s over.’ When we asked about whether they feel it’s over in their own lives, more than half said ‘it’s over.’ The numbers were stronger for men and younger age groups than overall population.”
Chandler says Kentuckians are back to living their normal lives, while COVID variants are still out there. He says the best protection is still getting vaccinated, staying home when sick, and wearing a mask in a crowd.
He says there's good news about vaccine attitudes. Chandler says unvaccinated Kentuckians were asked if they were open to getting the shots, and more than a third of those said yes. “Two percent said they’d get it as soon as they could. Nineteen percent said they’d wait and see. And 16% said that they would get it if it was required for work, school, or other activities.”
Chandler says fewer people are unvaccinated compared to polling in February and August of 2021. He says the poll shows there are still people who can be convinced to get the shots.
The poll also shows more people believe getting vaccinated against COVID is a personal choice and not a public responsibility. Chandler says two-thirds said it should be up to the individual. He says it was about 50-50 in a similar poll in February 2021.
Chandler says this shows people want to make the decision with their health care provider. “They won’t accept these facts from me. They probably won’t accept the facts from the governor. Really, hardly anybody else except their own provider, their own doctor. So, the medical providers in this state can really make a big difference at least with that +36% of the unvaccinated that are open to still getting the vaccine.”
The poll shows just under two-thirds of unvaccinated Kentuckians are not interested in getting the shots at all.
Pollsters called 814 Kentuckians between June 4 and July 13, 2022. The margin of error is +/- 3.4%.
