Survey results echo national sentiment? – Teague Hartford

(May 25 – 2020)

Our own community is simply one of the millions that form the tiny center circles for much larger and louder and scarier concentric ones which sound and resound throughout our nation. In a recent community survey  distributed and compiled by “Our Las Cruces” (www.ourlascruces.com) , the results echo many of the concerns we have witnessed for months deteriorating on the national stage. Folks are concerned, scared, uncertain; not simply about the virus itself, but about the growing lack of clarity and divisiveness throughout the national government.

The survey respondents are comprised of 40% over the age of 60, with almost 80% comprised of folks age 40 and over. There were no responses from folks in their 20s. And yet, there were more clarifications than surprises regarding both local and national attitudes. There was one rather unexpected result however, one which we haven’t seen yet in the broader surveys and one that could well curtail the current nationally-focused rush on securing a vaccine. Once we have that, we’re set. Right? Think again.

As far as concentric circles, we match up with the nation regarding how many of us have received a stimulus check (70%), how many are suffering financially due to the Covid-19 virus (34%), and how many do not believe it is time yet to reopen businesses (46%). In regard to more local matters, about 55% reported that New Mexico’s state testing program is sufficient and that local government communication with residents has been effective. 

But here’s the blip folks: close to 25% of survey respondents aren’t planning to get a vaccine. Nope. Decisive nos. That’s 25% of residents over the age of 50, the age at which the danger of death from the virus rises exponentially. Notable. But don’t take a deep breath and imagine that the other 75% are planning to get vaccinated; another 30% are unsure if they will get a vaccine. Now this could be an interesting fact preceding a potentially fatal flaw in the reality of the vaccine race. We’ve all done this before in our personal lives – rushed ahead what was most certainly the only option, the sure thing even, only to get to a point of realizing it was pipe-dream material. And now we’ve watched as this personal hurdle has played out politically in the national arena for months. And as we all know by now, this ain’t just personal folks, it’s global, and all the tiny circles resound outward and eventually pulsate throughout the world. It’s basic physics.

We all know how vaccines work, and don’t. Most of the survey takers are old enough to readily recall times when polio, whooping cough, and myriad other childhood diseases had no vaccine. It was not uncommon to lose a friend or family member to such diseases. The only vaccine against things like German measles or mumps was to gather everyone up in the neighborhood or all the cousins under a certain age, and throw a “party” so that all the kids could “get it over with” at once. So why the high numbers of folks resistant to or at least wary of a Covid vaccine? Especially in an age group we like to imagine as wise and knowledgeable and experienced? An age group of folks who have lived through the tangible life and death difference a vaccine can make?

There were a few comments added from folks who were not planning to get the vaccine. Some clarified that they are not “antivaxers”; they simply don’t trust the current system. In the current national scenario evidently, there is no faith that the science presented as fact will be real, true, or genuine. How do folks know they won’t just be further fodder for some political game? How will they know that a vaccine touted by the federal government, a divisive government at best, will work effectively without undue harm? Or will work at all? How will they know they aren’t simply a control group for someone else’s attempt to wield power?

 Two weeks ago, an on-line publication entitled “Life Petitions” presented a rather interesting narrative along with a request to sign their on-line petition. While it primarily declares the “government” as the enemy due to their hidden agenda and reliance on billionaire’s opinions, it also covers other standard anti-vax points such as individual personal freedom’s and even the concern regarding the use of fetal tissue in the research aspect of the process. There is no clear information offered in which to identify the publication’s backers.

Could it be that there may be something as dangerous as the virus churning beneath the surface of the national consciousness that will extend its resounding effects in many years to come? Could a lack of faith borne from what some clarified as serious concerns about miscommunication, political polarization, and the absence of a unified populace not simply cause undue stress now, but ultimately create more death and destruction in the next few years as we work globally to remedy the societal flaws that created this pandemic? Will this lack of faith in leaders and others give rise to other global diseases and catastrophes?

Perhaps the current rationales regarding vaccines matter little; it will matter however if the scientists and researchers finally discover a vaccine and over half the population refuses it.