Tag Archives: COVID-19 vaccines

Hawkins receives nearly 6,500 responses to his COVID vaccine survey

Sen. Brad Hawkins asked for North Central Washington’s feedback on Gov. Inslee’s recent COVID mandates and received thousands of responses over the past two weeks. In addition to the thousands of individual emails and calls into his office in recent days, Hawkins distributed a survey to over 50,000 residents and received nearly 6,500 responses (Aug. 25 through Sept. 8, 2021). In addition to the “yes” or “no” responses, Hawkins also received 4,300 detailed comments in the “additional comments” portion of his survey.

Among the key questions, a strong majority of respondents (60%) believed that school district and state employees should not be required to receive a COVID vaccination as a condition of their employment. In response to both questions, 40% answered “yes” with 60% answering “no.”

With regards to school masking, 44% responded that students should be required to wear masks for at least the first half of the school year with 56% responding “no.” Survey results were closer when asked if unvaccinated people should be required to wear masks indoors, with 48% responding “yes” to 52% responding “no.”

See full responses – Sen. Hawkins’ COVID Mandate Vaccine Survey.

While not a scientific survey, Hawkins said receiving almost 6,500 survey responses and thousands of personalized comments is helpful to him as he looks ahead to the next legislative session.

“I’m very grateful to everyone who participate and provided comments. It’s clear that our region – like most of America – is split on many of the difficult questions surrounding the pandemic,” said Hawkins. “At this stage, I think it’s important for us to respect people’s differing opinions so that we can try to move forward together.

“There is no doubt that emergency powers and vaccine policies will continue to be major topics of debate in the months and years ahead. Judging by the thousands of emails and survey responses I have received, there continues to be strong interested from all sides,” added Hawkins.

Hawkins calls for statewide “School Employee Vaccination Day”

Following his Jan. 11 letter with legislative education committee leaders to the governor and state Department of Health urging greater access to the COVID-19 vaccine for school employees, 12^th District state Sen. Brad Hawkins is now calling for a statewide “School Employee Vaccination Day.”

With the federal government’s recent decision to release more vaccine supply and many of the doses already allocated by Washington not yet administered, Hawkins says it is time to get going statewide to protect those helping to fulfill the state’s paramount duty regarding education.

“I’m calling on Governor Inslee to designate February 1 as our state’s ‘School Employee Vaccination Day’ and for the Department of Health to allow school districts and health care providers at the local level to coordinate access for any school employee who wishes to get vaccinated,” said Hawkins, the ranking Republican member on the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee.

“Let’s not overthink this,” added Hawkins. “Start planning today to set aside two dates in February for both doses. Providers can get lists from their school districts, ask staff to present identification cards, and start getting vaccines in people’s arms. School employees are critical workers and deserve to be protected as soon as possible.”

Hawkins acknowledges the challenge of coordinating vaccinations, but he believes it is often made worse by the state’s “top-down” approach and limiting flexibility at the local level.

“I’m thankful the health care providers in my region have been successful at getting our allocation of vaccinations administered, but the state should simplify things and provide more local flexibility in decision-making. Get the vaccines to our locals and let them get it done.”

More than 2,200 respond to Hawkins’ COVID-19 vaccination survey

An online survey that was emailed to more than 36,000 recipients of 12^th District Sen. Brad Hawkins’ e-newsletter revealed that a strong majority of respondents plan to receive a COVID-19 vaccination when it is available to them, but only a slight majority believed that vaccinations should be required for all public school students.

Hawkins sent the short, unscientific survey to constituents on Dec. 16. More than 2,200 people responded to the survey, which ended Dec. 28.

When asked if they planned to take a COVID-19 vaccination when it is available to them, 67 percent said “yes” while 33 percent answered “no.”
On the question of whether they believe vaccinations should be required for all public school students, 53 percent said “yes” while 47 percent responded “no.”

“Collecting feedback from the people I serve is very important to me, and I’m grateful to the 2,200 plus people who participated in my recent survey,” said Hawkins. “The COVID vaccine distribution appears to be going very well, and I’m excited for all of the medical workers, first responders, and others who are being vaccinated.

“I definitely look forward to getting vaccinated myself,” added Hawkins. “However, when it comes to developing state policy, I support individual choices. I do not believe the government should require employees to be vaccinated or force parents to vaccinate their children. The COVID vaccines are currently not approved for children yet anyway, but the policy discussions in Olympia about the COVID vaccines and other vaccines will no doubt continue into the upcoming legislative session. Between now and then, I’ll be reviewing the 86 pages of comments people provided me in response to my survey. I asked for their feedback and received a lot of it, so I’m grateful. Vaccine policy has been and will continue to be a big issue in Olympia and throughout the country.”

The 2021 legislative session begins Jan. 11 and is scheduled to last 105 days.