What H1N1 swine flu? Majority of Californians intend to ignore the late vaccine: Times/USC poll

A new poll confirms that the Obama administration and federal health officials have failed to convince Americans -- at least those in the most populous state of California -- of the seriousness of a H1N1 swine flu pandemic.

A majority of those registered voters polled by a new survey team involving The Times and the University of Southern California said they believed the new, delayed vaccine was safe.

But a majority also said they had no intention of getting it.

The findings come from a new Los Angeles Times/University of Southern California College of Letters, Arts & Sciences Poll. The survey, which interviewed 1,500 registered voters from Oct. 27 through Nov. 3, was conducted for The Times and USC by two nationally prominent polling firms, the Democratic firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner and the Republican firm Public Opinion Strategies.

Today's results have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

Only 5% of those polled said they had already been vaccinated. Of the rest, 52% said they didn't plan to get vaccinated. Of the 40% who said they wanted the vaccine, 12% said they already had attempted to find it but couldn't. 

Of those polled, 70% said they think the H1N1 vaccine is safe for most people, and only 17% said there was a strong chance the vaccine is unsafe.

Last month the Obama administration declared a national emergency over the H1N1 pandemic, as The Ticket reported here. But the government program has come under fire for long delays in deliveries of the vaccine.

Rep. Ron Paul has even called the federal program a "total failure." Obama officials, who are overseeing the vaccine distribution, have blamed the delays on manufacturers.

A previous national poll, as The Ticket reported here, found a large majority of Americans also intended to skip the recommended medical action.

-- Andrew Malcolm

No margin of error here. One-hundred percent of those clicking here get Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or follow us   @latimestot  And we're also available over on Facebook.

Photo: Baltimore Sun (Another satisfied young vaccination customer).

Comments

[Camron Barth]

I won't either.

[Camron Barth]

I'm not either

[freepatriot]

if a couple of million Americans die in the next year because of H1Ni flu, this article will be preserved as a memorial to the STUPIDITY of America

you're judging the flu vaccine by the opinions of the masses BEFORE the epidemic hits ???

that's kinda like asking the people of new Orleans how they feel about FEMA, BEFORE KATRINA HIT NEW ORLEANS

wanna bet that before New Orleans saw george bush's incompetence first hand, they thought FEMA was a pretty good organization ???

keep the names of the people you polled, and go ask them the same question in a year

if any of the people survive ...

you might get a different answer

of course, if you used applied logic in the first place, you might not have tried to judge the H1N1 vaccine based on uninformed and personal opinions

[gfp]

you guys need to read some medical journals to get the real story, this is sensational hype

[Dave]

How anyone would willingly accept this dangerous(because it's untested)jab is beyond me.
The US government is hoping that few remember 1976.
Even in the Ukraine where there is a bigger hype of the flu(1 out of 5376 have died),there still isn't enough justification to take the shot.
This whole issue stinks to high heaven,the government cannot be trusted and I won't ever accept this juice.

[Reality Hurts]

H1N1 the little virus that couldn't.

[Sam Bell]

No Poison Vaccines for me, I care about building a strong immune system through healthy living & eating. You reap what you sow when you think their are magic pills & shots that are going to keep you safe without any work! A great example is our psychiatric drug culture where people drugs that supposedly help depression actually cause people to commit suicide. "Up is down, & down is up"!

[Smith]

that poor little kid.

[ab]

Watch out for those on government payroll who try to spread propaganda about how the swine flu vaccine is the end all be all. I bet the poster by the name "Freepatriot" fits in this category. Notice the psychological war here. He names himself "free" and "patriot". In other words, if you don't take the mercury infested shot, you are not being patriotic and you will never be free. Nice try!