Last month’s reader survey, first published in the July issue of the Monthly Musings on American Healthcare newsletter, sought input from healthcare professionals and patients on the development and future availability of a coronavirus vaccine. Here are the results, some of which were featured in my most recent Forbes article.
Based on the collective responses, neither healthcare professionals nor patients are in a huge rush to get vaccinated. Looking at the combined results (not presented in the graphic above), less than half of all respondents were willing to either receive a vaccine upon FDA approval (39%) or participate in human trials (6%). The majority (53%) would rather wait for further testing of efficacy and side effects.
Late last month, Dr. Anthony Fauci told Congress 250,000 Americans had already volunteered for human trails. Sounds like an impressive number, but that’s less than 0.1% of the U.S. adult population. No matter how you slice it, Covid-19 vaccine skepticism abounds.
In the second question from last month’s survey, much doubt remains that a vaccine will be available in early 2021. Only time will tell which prediction proves correct, however, each of us should plan to protect our physical health and psychological well-being for the long-haul.
Thank you to those who participated. To take future surveys, and to access timely news and opinion on American healthcare, sign up for my free (and ad-free) newsletter Monthly Musings on American Healthcare.
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Dr. Robert Pearl is the former CEO of The Permanente Medical Group, the nation’s largest physician group. He’s the bestselling author of “Mistreated: Why We Think We’re Getting Good Health Care–And Why We’re Usually Wrong” and a Stanford University professor. Follow him on Twitter @RobertPearlMD.
