Health officials launch survey asking residents how likely they are to get COVID-19 vaccine

ATLANTA, Ga. — Three major COVID-19 vaccines are showing promising results, with multiple vaccines having at least a 90% success rate of preventing COVID-19 in testing.

Health experts in three metro Atlanta counties want to know the public’s perception of these vaccines.

Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale County health department is launching surveys asking if residents will take a vaccine and what might increase their confidence to take it.

Randy Redner, with the Community Foundation of Northeast Georgia, was blindsided by COVID-19 when it started affecting Georgians.

Redner’s father-in-law was hospitalized with the virus and died 15 days later.

“My mother-in-law was diagnosed with COVID, my wife positive with COVID, my daughter positive with COVID, my son-in-law diagnosed with COVID,” Redner said. “We’ve been quarantined three times.”

Help to prevent such outbreaks could be on the horizon if promised vaccines prove successful, but local health departments are concerned whether residents will accept the medicine.

Health Director Dr. Audrey Arona oversees the health department for Gwinnett, Rockdale and Newton counties. Her staff is sending a 19-question survey asking residents how likely they are to get the vaccine, whether they would give it to their children, and what officials could share to improve confidence in the vaccine.

“We really want to understand how our community feels about the vaccine,” Arona said. “Literally we have community-wide transmission so it’s everywhere.”

Word of the survey came as Gwinnett community leaders gathered online to compare notes about the disease.

“We are definitely going in the wrong direction as a nation,” said Dr. Clifford McDonald, senior advisor for science at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Redner described his family’s COVID-19 battle as a journey.

“We truly do control our own destiny,” Redner said. “I believe that and my family believes that.”

The COVID-19 survey is open to residents through Dec. 15.

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Cox Media Group