Power Poll: Alabama's vaccination situation

Birmingham leaders don’t believe Alabama is doing enough to encourage vaccinations for Covid-19.

That’s the big takeaway from this month’s Birmingham Power Poll, which is a monthly poll of local leaders.

The Birmingham Power Poll is not a scientific poll, but does offer a window into the perspectives of influential Birmingham community and business leaders.

The survey results come amid a Delta-variant-fueled spike in Covid-19 cases in Alabama, which has one of the nation’s lowest vaccination rates.

More than three-fourths of respondents (76%) said the state isn’t doing enough to raise Alabama’s vaccination rate. Only 42.6% of adults in the state had been vaccinated.

By a similar margin, 73.1% of Power Poll respondents said they would be in favor of Alabama implementing a vaccination lottery or launching other incentives as other states have done to increase their rates.

Despite widespread support among Birmingham leaders, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey recently said she is not in favor of incentives and will instead continue to focus on educating and encouraging the vaccine, rather than incentivizing it.

More than 94% of respondents were at least slightly concerned about the combination of the state’s low vaccination rate and the recent uptick in cases, with 71.2% of respondents describing themselves as very concerned.