Poll: half of Kentuckians believe the pandemic is over in their own lives

The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky sponsored the poll that asked Kentuckians about the pandemic, COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots.

Louisville, KY (August 9, 2022) – Despite a climb in COVID-19 cases across the Commonwealth, about a third of Kentucky adults believe the pandemic is over, according to a new “Insights on the COVID-19 Pandemic and Vaccines in Kentucky Poll” sponsored by the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky. The poll also found that about half of Kentucky adults believe the pandemic is over as it pertains to their personal lives.

“While we are all ready to put COVID-19 behind us, now is not the time to lower to our guard,” said Ben Chandler, president and CEO, Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky. “The best way for people to avoid serious illness and stay out of the hospital is to get the vaccine and booster shots. And the more that people do that, the quicker we can find a safe way to live with this virus.”

The poll found twice as many men as women believed the pandemic was over in Kentucky, and nearly two-thirds of men think the pandemic is over as it pertains to their personal lives.

The poll also found, among the unvaccinated in Kentucky, confidence in the COVID-19 vaccines’ efficacy has lessened since the emergence of the Omicron variant. At the time of this poll, more than three quarters (76.4%) of unvaccinated Kentucky adults said they believed the shots would only be “a little effective” or “not effective at all” in protecting them from COVID-19. That’s more than the 65.7% of unvaccinated Kentucky adults who answered the same in August of 2021.

Some Kentuckians Still Movable
While more Kentuckians are vaccinated now since the 2021 poll, nearly two-thirds of the unvaccinated say they will “definitely not” get the vaccine. However, more than a third say they’ll get it “if required” or will continue to “wait and see.” Two percent said they’d get it today if it was available.

“It’s encouraging that some people are still willing to consider getting the vaccine,” Chandler said. “This shows there are movable people and we should continue efforts to increase confidence in the safety and efficacy of the vaccine and boosters.”

The “Insights on the COVID-19 Pandemic and Vaccines in Kentucky Poll,” commissioned by the Foundation, was conducted June 4 – July 13, 2022 by the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Cincinnati. A random sample of 814 adults from throughout Kentucky was interviewed by telephone. The margin of error was +/-3.4% and the percentages are rounded.

For more information and to read the data briefs, click here.

To download the graphs, click here.