A Tuesday poll indicated that most unvaccinated Americans are not planning to take the vaccine due to doubts on the overall safety of the shots as well as the potential side effects.
An Associated Press-NORC poll released said that 11% of the unvaccinated respondents asked would “definitely” get the coronavirus vaccine, with 34% saying they “definitely won’t,” The Associated Press reported.
The poll surveyed 1,842 adults between April 29 and May 3, with a margin of sampling error at +/-3.2%.
The new poll comes as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Pfizer vaccine for early teens earlier this month; it was the first vaccine to be cleared for use in children.
Fewer Americans are reluctant to get a COVID-19 vaccine than just a few months ago, but questions about side effects and how the shots were tested still hold some back, according to a new poll that shows the challenges in the U.S. vaccination campaign. https://t.co/BXjV2uiE0B
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 11, 2021
27% of respondents who were not vaccinated said that they “probably will” get the vaccine if their concerns were addressed, with an addition 27% saying they “probably won’t” get the shot, The Associated Press reported.
The poll suggested that younger Americans between the ages of 18-44, non-college graduates and Republicans, as well as Independents, were the most likely to be unvaccinated. Born-Again Evangelicals were also not likely to get the vaccine. (RELATED: ’They Cut Red Tape, Not Corners’: House Republicans Urges Americans To Get Vaccinated)
Three-fourths of those who had no plans for the shot had “little to no confidence” the vaccine was properly tested, with more than half saying they were worried about possible side effects, The Associated Press reported.
Despite lingering questions regarding the vaccine and it’s development, the poll did find that the number of Americans that would “definitely not” get the vaccine had dropped from a third of those asked in January to one in every five respondents in May, The Associated Press reported.
The drop in hesitancy was fueled by black Americans, with only 26% saying they would not get the vaccine, down from 41% in January, according to The Associated Press.
A Gallup poll released earlier in May suggested that Americans were also in favor of having “vaccine passports” for certain activities, with half of respondents supporting passports for airplanes and concerts.