This makes the Bay Area the second-most-willing US metropolitan area to receive the vaccine.
The US Census Bureau released results of the COVID-19 Household Pulse Survey conducted from March 3-15, which asks residents of US metropolitan areas about COVID-19-related questions. The SF-Oakland-Berkeley, CA Metro Area reported that 72.2% of unvaccinated residents claim they will “definitely” get vaccinated when it becomes available to them. This rate is second only to Seattle, with 73.5%.
[Image: U.S. Census Bureau, Household Pulse Survey]
Two other California metro areas were also surveyed. The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim Metro Area was reported to have 62.7% of residents willing to get the vaccine. The Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario Metro Area reports only 43.7% of residents vaccine-willing. Of the fifteen large metro areas analyzed across the US, the Riverside area came in last.
[Image: U.S. Census Bureau, Household Pulse Survey]
The survey also analyzed how many people had received a vaccine. Out of the 15 metropolitan areas, the SF Bay Area came in first with 41.7% of the population vaccinated, followed by Houston and New York. Although Seattle had the highest percentage of residents willing to get vaccinated, they came in last place on the list of people already having received a vaccine with 29.2%. This means that the SF Bay Area likely has more vaccine-willing people total, but appears lower because this survey question was administered to unvaccinated people only.
[Image: U.S. Census Bureau, Household Pulse Survey]
While it’s encouraging to see enthusiasm for the Covid-19 vaccine in the Bay Area, it also signals the upcoming rush for vaccine appointments that’s sure to hit hard this month. Californians 50 and over are eligible to make appointments now, and 16 and older starting April 15.
California’s official website to check vaccine eligibility, make appointments, and sign up for notifications is MyTurn.ca.gov, which is available in 12 different languages. You can also get notifications in the Bay Area Vaccine Notification group on Telegram, which is organized by community members. Covid-19 vaccines are free to people who live and work in San Francisco, and you do not need insurance.
Currently, California is allocated about 1.8 million doses per week. The state is expected to build capacity to administer 4 million doses per week by the end of April.
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[Featured Image: @415dreams via Instagram]