Mount Sinai South Nassau "Truth in Medicine" Poll: 75 Percent of Vaccinated Metro Area Residents Say They Will Get a COVID-19 Booster Shot When It Becomes Available

53 Percent Think Students Should be Required to Wear Masks in School

Metro area residents are ready to roll up their sleeves to receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster when one becomes widely available for the general population, with 75 percent indicating they would get one, according to results of the latest Mount Sinai South Nassau Truth in Medicine public health poll, sponsored by Bethpage.

Twenty-three percent of the metro area residents recently polled who are unvaccinated say they are more likely to get a vaccine now that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given its final approval to the Pfizer vaccine. But 54 percent of the unvaccinated group said the FDA approval had not changed their minds about getting vaccinated.

Asked why they still did not plan to get vaccinated, 43 percent of the unvaccinated group said they either think the vaccine is unsafe or they don’t trust what the government says about it.

Among those who reported being vaccinated, 45 percent said they feel “angry and resentful” toward those who have not been vaccinated.

Area residents also remain split about the polarizing issue of mandating masks in schools. Slightly more than one-half (53 percent) of respondents think kindergarten through 12 students should be required to wear masks while in school to maintain a safe learning environment. But 68 percent of all respondents feel teachers should be required to be vaccinated, the poll showed.

“It’s encouraging that most people seem ready to receive a booster shot,” said Adhi Sharma, MD, President of Mount Sinai South Nassau. “The pandemic is not over. We must do our very best to protect our community, remaining vigilant, wearing masks, and practicing social distancing as recommended, and taking advantage of the proven benefits of these safe and effective vaccines.”

Overall, 82 percent of poll respondents in New York City and Long Island reported that they have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. These percentages are in contrast to the Truth in Medicine Poll released in October 2020, which revealed that only 46 percent of 600 metro area residents surveyed planned to get a vaccine, citing concerns about the vaccines’ development and lack of trust in the FDA’s regulatory process to ensure their safety. Adults on Long Island are slightly more likely to be vaccinated than those in New York City.

“Almost all new COVID-19 cases in our area are fueled by the Delta variant and the vast majority of all ICU or critical care patients in our hospitals are unvaccinated. These vaccines remain the best way to prevent Delta from causing more disease and the spread of more variants,” said Aaron E. Glatt, MD, Chair of the Department of Medicine at Mount Sinai South Nassau, Chief of Infectious Diseases, and a national expert on the topic. “It is essential for those individuals who have not received the vaccination to understand that the benefit of getting vaccinated is of much greater personal value than the risk of getting infected without the vaccine.”

The October 2020 Truth in Medicine Poll also reported that 90 percent of parents with at least one child who returned to school at least part-time gave schools high marks for successfully reopening, attributing the success to practicing safety measures, including social distancing and mask-wearing. The newest poll, which surveyed parents from August 24-27 (just before the start of the 2021-22 school year), found that 68 percent of respondents think teachers should be required to be vaccinated before the start of the school year, 16 percent do not, and 16 percent are unsure.  Those most in favor of teacher vaccination are themselves vaccinated. Some 72 percent of respondents without school-age children support teacher vaccine requirements, compared to only 62 percent of respondents with schoolchildren in their household. And 23 percent of those who are not vaccinated themselves think teachers should be required to get a vaccine.

Groups most likely to get the additional dose of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine are age 65 and up, according to the poll results. Mount Sinai South Nassau’s Vaxmobile, the hospital’s mobile vaccination bus, is now offering boosters to community members who are moderate to severely immunocompromised. For more information, visit here.

This is Mount Sinai South Nassau’s first Truth in Medicine Poll of 2021. Sponsored by Bethpage Credit Union, the poll is a survey of Long Island and New York City adult residents that aims to gather data about attitudes on key public health topics and help spur education to improve public health. The poll was conducted via both landlines and cell phones with 600 residents in New York City and on Long Island. Poll findings are subject to a sampling error of plus or minus 3.9 percent.

“At Bethpage, we understand that personal attention to health and wellness is essential to the quality of life of our members and the communities served by our local branches,” said Linda Armyn, Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs at Bethpage Federal Credit Union. “We believe that this Truth in Medicine Poll supplies the public with insight and information that will empower it to make choices that will facilitate a safe, healthy, and robust reopening of the region for business, entertainment, dining, and outdoor activities.”

The Truth in Medicine Poll is a component of Mount Sinai South Nassau’s mission of improving education around critical public health issues. The poll was conducted by a nationally recognized, independent polling firm, LJR Custom Strategies, with offices in Washington and New Orleans. LJR has conducted more than 2,000 studies for a broad spectrum of health care, business, education, cultural, and political clients in almost every state in the country and around the world.

Mount Sinai South Nassau began conducting the public health poll in January 2017. Previous polls have focused on holiday stress, HPV vaccine, legalization of recreational marijuana, vaccines and supplements, antibiotic use and misuse, screen time, and others. For more information about the polls, please visit here.

About Mount Sinai South Nassau
The Long Island flagship hospital of the Mount Sinai Health System, Mount Sinai South Nassau is designated a Magnet® hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) for outstanding nursing care. Mount Sinai South Nassau is one of the region’s largest hospitals, with 455 beds, more than 900 physicians and 3,500 employees. Located in Oceanside, NY, the hospital is an acute-care, not-for-profit teaching hospital that provides state-of-the-art care in cardiac, oncologic, orthopedic, bariatric, pain management, mental health and emergency services and operates the only Trauma Center on the South Shore of Nassau County, along with Long Island’s only free-standing Emergency Department in Long Beach.

In addition to its extensive outpatient specialty centers, Mount Sinai South Nassau provides emergency and elective angioplasty, and offers Novalis Tx™ and Gamma Knife® radiosurgery technologies. Mount Sinai South Nassau operates the only Trauma Center on the South Shore of Nassau County verified by the American College of Surgeons as well as Long Island’s only free-standing, 9-1-1 receiving Emergency Department in Long Beach. Mount Sinai South Nassau also is a designated Stroke Center by the New York State Department of Health and Comprehensive Community Cancer Center by the American College of Surgeons; is an accredited center of the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Association and Quality Improvement Program; and an Infectious Diseases Society of America Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence.
For more information, go to www.mountsinai.org/southnassau.