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To some, it's a no-brainer: Of course, yes. To others, that elixir leaves more questions than it does answers.
Daily Voice New Jersey polled our Instagram followers about the COVID-19 vaccine, curious to know what drives people to get it (or not), what the side effects are and more.
As of Jan. 20, 371,310 first doses were administered, and 49,759 second doses were administered, according to the COVID-19 dashboard.
According to the Daily Voice Instagram poll, 89 percent of people (1,135) said that they had not been vaccinated, while 11 percent (147) said they had.
Forty-nine percent of people (563) said that they were interested in getting vaccinated, while 51 percent (579) were not.
For those who had gotten the vaccine, 77 percent of people (314) chose to get it on their own, while the remaining 23 got it because it was required for their jobs.
Much like COVID-19, the symptoms seemed to range from mild to severe, and expected to bizarre.
The most common side effect reported was a sore arm for two days, and the second-most common side- effect was a sore arm along with some fatigue.
One person reported having an itchy lip "like eating too much buttered popcorn." and some reported flu-like symptoms for 12 to 24 hours.
Others reported no symptoms at all, while others said they experienced some only with the second dose of the vaccine.
What drove these individuals to get the vaccine? Safety, restore some sense of normalcy and peace of mind were among the most common answers.
Why were others holding out?
The COVID-19 vaccine is currently available to health care workers, long term care residents and staff, first responders and high risk individuals. The next to be eligible are frontline essential workers, other essential workers and then the general population.
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