MD Residents Want COVID Vaccine, Criticize Rollout: Goucher Poll

BALTIMORE, MD — Most Maryland residents plan to get a COVID-19 vaccine, and a majority of Marylanders also give the state poor marks for its rollout of vaccines.

The findings were among those in the newest Goucher College Poll, which asked Maryland residents their views on the COVID-19 pandemic, including Gov. Larry Hogan’s handling of the coronavirus, and on the pace of reopening, its financial impact, and whether individual actions can help stop the spread of the virus. Residents were also asked about the emotional impact of the pandemic.

Overall support for Hogan's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which passed the one-year mark last week, remains strong.

The Goucher College Poll surveyed 725 Maryland adults from Feb. 23 to 28, and it has a margin of sampling error of 3.6 percent.

The majority of the nearly 3,700 readers who took a Patch vaccine survey in mid-December said they intend to get vaccinated against the disease. However, others said they were concerned production of the vaccine was rushed.

An overwhelming number of readers who responded to the Patch survey — nearly 83 percent — say they believe in vaccination and try to stay up to date on their own shots, with a small minority (about 1 percent) saying they don't believe in vaccination at all. Another 9 percent said they believe in vaccination but don't always keep their own shots up to date, and more than 4 percent said they mistrust vaccination and generally avoid it.

Vaccine Hesitancy and Distribution

An FDA-approved vaccine for COVID-19 has been available since mid-December 2020. Willingness to be vaccinated has improved among Marylanders during the past five months, Goucher's poll found.

Sixty-four percent of Maryland residents say they plan to get the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as they can or have already received at least one dose. In October 2020, fewer than half of residents said they would agree to be vaccinated if an FDA-approved vaccine to prevent coronavirus were available at no cost.

There is still some hesitancy and resistance toward vaccination:

• 15 percent say they will wait to see how it’s working before they get the vaccine.
• 18 percent will only get it if required or will definitely not get the vaccine.

Marylanders are unhappy with the job the Maryland state government is doing in the distribution of the vaccine. Only about a third say the state government is doing an excellent or good job and 66 percent think they are doing fair or poor.

“Vaccine hesitancy has declined among Maryland residents over the past few months,” said Mileah Kromer, director of the Sarah T. Hughes Field Politics Center at Goucher College. “Notably, our poll results also show that Black Marylanders are not significantly more hesitant to get the vaccine than their white counterparts. There are, however, differences across party lines: Republicans are more resistant to taking the vaccine than Democrats. The big picture is that most Marylanders will get the vaccine as soon as it’s available to them.”

State Government Response to COVID-19

Nearly three-quarters of respondents approve of how Gov. Hogan has handled the outbreak of the coronavirus in Maryland and 22 percent disapprove. Last October, 82 percent of Marylanders approved of how Gov. Hogan was handling the outbreak.

Marylanders have different attitudes toward the pace of reopening businesses compared to public schools:

• Too slowly: Businesses (26 percent) / Public schools (29 percent)
• About right: Businesses (56 percent) / Public schools (37 percent)
• Too quickly: Businesses (15 percent) / Public schools (31 percent)

Concerns, Feelings, and a Return to Normalcy

Marylanders continue to express high levels of concern about themselves or a close family member contracting COVID-19. Seventy-one percent of Marylanders say they are “somewhat” or “very” concerned about themselves or a close family member contracting COVID-19, while 29 percent are “not at all” or “a little” concerned.

Marylanders were also asked how they’ve felt since the outbreak of COVID-19 last year.

• 55 percent say they felt frustrated more often.
• 50 percent say they felt stressed more often.
• 45 percent say they felt sad more often.
• 33 percent say they felt angry more often.

Residents are mixed in their attitudes toward when the country will get the coronavirus under control and return to normal:

• 3 percent think within the next month or two
• 13 percent think by the summer
• 39 percent think before the end of the year
• 34 percent think it will be later than this year
• 8 percent think never

Download the complete results, including methodology and question design. To view archived polls, visit www.goucher.edu/poll.