PRINCETON, WV (WOAY) – Roughly three months ago, the Mercer County Commission requested that county residents fill out a survey on the COVID-19 vaccine. They wanted to know why people in their community were choosing to not get the vaccine.
According to County Commissioner Greg Puckett, it’s to find out where people were getting information on the vaccine, and what made them choose not to get it.
“We can find out what the community thought and gather some additional data,” Puckett said. “So when we are perhaps having an outbreak, we’d know where to put additional resources and how to target the messaging.”
With the potential for more outbreaks from the Omicron variant, the county commission and the health department are hopeful to get more people vaccinated. They wanted to know what ways they could best interact with the community to give out information on vaccines.
Through the survey, they gathered that most people got their vaccine information from the internet, but the most trustworthy source of information came from their doctor.
“They trusted a lot of the internet. That was a key source for gathering information. And as we know, the internet is not necessarily the most reliable source of information, so going to your physician is probably going to be best.”
As well, the survey found that most people who were hesitant to get the vaccine were worried about side effects. The county intends to share the results of the survey with local health leaders to better prepare for the future.
“I sent it out to local hospitals, the health department. It really tells us how to look at strategies collectively and know the proper messaging, so that we don’t have the same problems our federal partners do.”
A total of 350 people participated in the survey.
