Survey finds 73% of HCPS employees ready for vaccine

More than 73% of the Henrico Schools employees who responded to a school system survey earlier this week said they are very likely or likely to take a COVID-19 vaccine when it’s available to them.

Nearly 3,500 (about 59% of respondents) said they were very likely to take the vaccine. Another 14.5% said they were likely to do so.

Almost 10% of respondents said they were very unlikely to be vaccinated, while another 4% said they were not likely. Nearly 13% indicated that they weren’t sure.

The school system surveyed all 10,155 of its employees Jan. 11-12, and just more than 58% (5,920) responded. The school system provided the results of the survey to the Citizen Thursday at the publication's request.

Those who answered also were asked a second question: what might impact their final decision about whether to be vaccinated.

Of the 3,510 who answered that question, nearly half said that they needed more information about the vaccine. Another 29% indicated that they had pre-existing medical conditions known to be COVID risk-factors, while 22.5% said “other” and 21% said that they didn’t want to be first to get the vaccine. More than 18% said they felt that others needed it more. Five percent indicated that they had already had COVID.

The Henrico School Board will receive the survey data and may discuss it during today’s meeting, which begins at 3 p.m.

HCPS employees will be eligible to receive the vaccine beginning as soon as Jan. 18, when Henrico officially enters Phase 1B. The county expects to give as many as 13,000 people an initial dose of vaccine next week, Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas told the Citizen Wednesday.