U of I survey shows how COVID vaccine fits into “pandemic stress”

Posted on December 17, 2020
Gaines says you shouldn’t hold your breath about the coronavirus crisis being over soon. (Photo courtesy: CDC/Twitter)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – As the coronavirus vaccine is out, so is a University of Illinois survey about how it fits into “pandemic stress.”

Not everybody is going to get the vaccine, says the study’s author, political science professor Brian Gaines.

“Government at all levels has to be working on an education campaign stressing to people why it’s important to get vaccinated,” says Gaines. “Maybe it’s not that you are afraid of dying from COVID, but you should be worried about carrying it and passing it along.”

The survey, by UI’s Institute of Government and Public Affairs of a panel of nineteen experts, says most believe the CDC should be the one distributing the vaccine, with hospital employees working directly with patients first in line to get it.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]. 

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