Your Illinois News Radar » Question of the day - The Capitol Fax Blog

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* The good news is that the number of Americans resisting the vaccine has fallen to 21 percent in an April 8-12 Monmouth poll. That’s down from 24 percent in its March poll. The bad news is that 43 percent of Republicans are saying it’s likely they will never get the vaccine if they can avoid it…

Partisanship remains the main distinguishing factor among those who want to avoid the vaccine altogether, with 43% of Republicans versus just 5% of Democrats saying this. Currently, 22% of independents say they want to avoid getting the vaccine altogether. Demographically, adults under age 65 (25%) continue to be more likely than seniors (11%) to rule out getting the vaccine. There are no discernable differences by race, though, with similar number of whites (22%) and people of color (20%) saying they will avoid getting the vaccine if they can.

Just over half (51%) of the adult population reports having already received at least one Covid jab and another 14% say they will get the vaccine as soon as they are allowed. Democrats (67%) are more likely than independents (47%) and Republicans (36%) to report being vaccinated. More white Americans (54%) than people of color (45%) report having already received a shot.

* Many moons ago, I worked for a “buying club” in Kankakee. People paid money in order to get big discounts on all sorts of things, from furniture to cars. One of the sales techniques they taught me was the “take-away.” We would go through the costs and benefits of the club and then tell the potential customer that the program probably wasn’t right for them. It actually worked a whole lot better than I thought it would during training. Some folks were adamant that they wanted to sign up, gosh-darnit, and demanded that I take their checks.

I thought about that former job this week when a buddy of mine half-jokingly suggested that the state tell mainly folks in Downstate areas which trend Republican and aren’t taking full advantage of the vaccines that their allotted doses would be sent to Chicago if they didn’t start signing up for appointments. The city has been asking the state to give it more doses above and beyond its federal allotment and on top of its extra doses for the United Center.

So, it could turn out to be a win-win. If the take-away threat worked, we’d get more shots into Downstate arms. If it didn’t work, Chicago (which has a lot of Democrats, who, according to all the polls I’ve seen, are eager to be vaccinated) would get more doses.

The obvious downside would be that regionalism and even partisanship could be, um, injected into the vaccination program and that could cause resentment and perhaps harden opposition to the shots if people felt cornered. This ain’t some buyers club, after all. It’s literally a matter of life and death.

* The Question: Should the state try the “take-away” approach? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…

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Your Illinois News Radar » Question of the day - The Capitol Fax Blog
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