Nearly two-thirds of Coloradans surveyed in 28 western counties said they would definitely not get the COVID-19 vaccine, a poll conducted by a regional health department found, and nearly half of that group said they would only be vaccinated if required to for work or for travel and leisure activities.
The poll, which gathered surveys from 501 unvaccinated residents in the Western Slope and southwestern Colorado, was commissioned by San Juan Basin Public Health. It found deep distrust of public health institutions, both federal and local, and many respondents who wouldn't believe information about the vaccine that came from anyone or anywhere.
The good news, the department said in a news release, is that 35% of respondents were at least not completely opposed to vaccinations. But of those, the bulk — 20% of total respondents — still said they probably wouldn't get inoculated. Twelve percent said they didn't know yet, and 2% said they probably would get the vaccine.
The results come as the state faces down projections that hospital capacity could be surpassed in the next month, with hospitals battling an unprecedented crush of COVID-19 patients and severe staffing shortages. The vast majority of hospitalized COVID-19 cases and those who've died of the disease in recent months are unvaccinated, state data shows. State leaders — including Gov. Jared Polis — have emphasized with increasing frustration that the pandemic is now driven and primarily borne by the unvaccinated, one that now threatens to overwhelm the state's entire health system.
Like the rest of Colorado, the western part of the state has had high rates of COVID-19 spread amid the current surge.
But the poll's findings provide some insight into how the state could reach those who are still unvaccinated but could be persuaded to change their mind. Information about the development of the doses was found to be effective, as were descriptions of the lack of evidence of long-term side effects of the vaccine in comparison to long-term effects of infection. Those findings had "strong potential" to help, the San Juan Basin health department said. Focus groups conducted in the area found similar support for those messages.
A spokesman for the state Department of Public Health and Environment said the agency would not be able to provide comment given that the data was released just before 5 p.m. Wednesday. A message sent to a spokesman for San Juan Basin Public Health was not returned.
The poll was conducted by RBI Strategies and Research, with a margin of error of 4.4%.
Its findings echoed what research has shown for months about how vaccination has broken down along political lines: Ninety-four percent of Democrats who responded were vaccinated versus 53% of Republicans.
Unvaccinated respondents reported high levels of dislike for both the state Department of Public Health and Environment and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There was more support for local health agencies, but those, too, were still viewed unfavorably overall. Twenty-five percent of participants said "pushing the vaccine" threatened their personal freedom, 21% said they didn't trust the government when it came to their own health, 19% felt they had natural immunity from prior infections, and a total of 25% were concerned about side effects or felt vaccines were unsafe.
Research — both prior to vaccines' approval and in the 11 months since the doses were released — has found the vaccines to be safe and effective.
As for reasons why this unvaccinated group would ultimately be motivated to get inoculated, the poll found that 44% said it would take either an employee requirement or mandates related to travel and leisure. Twenty-two percent said they would do so to protect vulnerable people in their lives.
Those findings come days after the heads of nearly every public health agency in the Denver metro area urged Polis to require vaccinations for entry into bars, restaurants, gyms and other settings. Such requirements, officials said, could not only help cut down on spread in indoor settings but would also incentivize people — like those who participated in the pool — to finally get inoculated.
But the poll also revealed that many residents will not be persuaded and wouldn't trust anyone's information about vaccines. Forty-six percent, the plurality of responses, identified their most trusted source only as "other." More than 50% of "other" responses, in turn, meant the respondents trusted no one at all. The next closest most-trusted messenger was the respondent themselves and the research they can do independently.
Still, of those who identified a specific person they would trust to give them vaccine information, 31% said their doctor. Since the summer, state officials have increasingly pushed vaccines in primary care providers for that very reason. That's been given an even greater emphasis now, as doses are now approved for children between the ages of 5 and 11.
