nextLI Survey: COVID-19 vaccine racial gap

A coronavirus vaccine is hopefully approaching, but will individuals opt to receive it?

New national and Long Island survey results show the answer to that could vary significantly by race.

nextLI polled Long Islanders earlier this summer to find out how they felt the public health crisis was handled at its height here, their ongoing health and financial concerns and how the pandemic may have a permanent impact on many facets of their lives.

“When a vaccine for COVID-19 becomes available, will you receive it?” was a question posed to more than 1,000 Long Islanders in the poll. Overall, 53% said they will receive it, 16% said they won’t and 31% weren’t sure.

A closer look, however, reveals a distinction across racial lines.

Black respondents:

• 28% will receive it
• 27% won’t receive it
• 46% not sure

Hispanic respondents:

• 52% will receive it
• 17% won’t receive it
• 30% not sure

White respondents:

• 57% will receive it
• 14% won’t receive it
• 29% not sure

This racial disparity mirrors findings in a recent national poll conducted by Axios/Ipsos. That poll found that Black Americans “are significantly less likely to say they’ll take a first-generation coronavirus vaccine.” In the latest edition of the Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index, just 28% of Black Americans say they would be willing to get a vaccine, compared to 51% of white Americans and 56% of Hispanics.

nextLI discussed this and other racial disparities the pandemic exacerbated during a virtual event, where panelists examined how minorities have suffered disproportionately from COVID-19, the legacy of mistrust with the medical community and systematic racism, all reasons Axios also cites as why the Black community responded to the poll in this way.

To learn more about nextLI’s survey findings and watch the virtual events about the results, click here.