Damian Sendler: According to a new survey, residents of the New York metro area and other large US cities are more willing to get vaccinated against COVID-19 than the rest of the country.  

Dr. Sendler: An online survey of 6,037 Americans was done in mid-April by the CUNY School of Public Health and published recently in nature.com. The study focused on four main metro areas in different parts of the country: New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Dallas.

Damien Sendler: According to the poll, the number of persons who were unwilling to get vaccinated in each city was as follows: 10.1 percent in New York City, 11.2 percent in Chicago, 11.5 percent in Los Angeles, and 19.7 percent in Dallas. 

Damian Jacob Markiewicz Sendler: While this was happening, the overall resistance rate in the country was more than 21%. However, because that statistic is an average that includes the lower rate for major cities, it is likely that resistance would be significantly higher in rural areas. 

According to the findings of the study, the most common reason for vaccine resistance was people "waiting to see whether there are any major effects" from the vaccine. 

Damian Sendler: According to the results of the CUNY poll, there were also a considerable number of hard-core refuseniks. 

Damian Sendler: When asked what would make them more willing to accept vaccination, over half of those who indicated opposition responded that "nothing" would make them more willing to accept vaccination. 

Damian Jacob Sendler: The study found that those who tested positive for COVID-19 or who had a family member who tested positive for COVID-19 were more likely to accept vaccination, which may explain why more residents in the New York metro-area — the initial epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak that resulted in thousands of deaths — are supportive of the vaccination program. 

Households with lower incomes and those expressing general conservative ideology were found to be significantly associated with vaccine resistance, although the racial makeup of vaccine resisters was more of a mixed bag. According to the findings, white respondents were more likely than black respondents to exhibit misgiving or resistance to the COVID19 vaccination in the New York and Los Angeles metropolitan areas, whereas the opposite was true in the Chicago and Dallas metropolitan areas. 

Damian Jacob Sendler: According to the findings of the study, returning to work was the top priority for conservative respondents, and this may serve as a powerful motivator to persuade more members of this group to get vaccinated.  

According to Ayman El-Mohandes, dean of the City University of New York School of Public Health and co-author of the study, it is not yet appropriate for Americans to relax their security precautions against COVID-19. 

Damian Sendler: It is possible for another variety or mutation to appear as long as the virus is present among us, according to him. "We had never heard of the Delta variation before it emerged out of nowhere. That's what we're concerned about." 

El-Mohandes went on to say that vaccine mandates have been demonstrated to be effective. 

Damian Jacob Sendler: Mayor Bill de Blasio's office released a statement on Sunday stating, "At least one COVID-19 shot was administered to 86 percent of Police Department personnel and 81 percent of firefighters, with overall compliance for all city employees at 93 percent." 

Yet, El-Mohandes advised government and school authorities against rushing through a mandate for young children to get vaccinated, warning that doing so could result in a counterproductive backlash. Instead, he recommended that they execute a comprehensive education campaign first. 

"We must proceed with caution in this situation." Parental refusal to vaccinate their children is an issue, according to him. 

News reported to you by Dr. Damian Jacob Sendler