New poll shows alarming coronavirus vaccine skepticism
01 October 2020
Lack of trust in a potential coronavirus vaccine is becoming a truly major problem, according to a new Harris poll shared exclusively with Axios.
By the numbers: 79% of respondents said they would worry about a vaccine's safety if it's approved quickly, and 75% said they worry about politics — rather than science — driving the process.
Our thought bubble: This is an unprecedented process to control a new virus. It's essential that people have confidence in the tools that will help us end this pandemic — and it's essential for that confidence to be warranted.
- President Trump's continued promises of imminent authorization and rapid distribution clearly aren't helping, even though the quick discovery of a safe and effective vaccine would, in fact, be the best-case scenario.
Yes, but: 54% of those polled said they'd get a vaccine as soon as they can, and 58% of parents said they'd get their kids vaccinated as soon as possible.
- So maybe some of this concern is more theoretical.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.