The number of people who intend to get a flu shot this year is on the rise, but people are increasingly hesitant about getting the coronavirus vaccine, data from Civic Science showed.
When asked about their plans to get a flu shot this year, 72% of respondents said that they have either already gotten a flu shot or plan to in the future, while 28% said they don’t plan to get a shot, the Civic Science survey showed. In 2019, people were less inclined to get the flu shot, with 64% saying they planned to or already got the flu shot and 36% saying that they didn’t plan to.
The 2019 data is based on 3,206 survey responses from U.S. adults and was conducted between October 7 and October 21. The 2020 data is based on 3,077 responses and was conducted between September 1 and September 10.
Despite the increase in people planning to get the flu shot, many are skeptical of getting the coronavirus vaccine when it is released. Of those who got the flu shot or were planning to, 69% said they would also get the coronavirus vaccine, and 12% said they wouldn’t. 19% weren’t sure what to do yet. (RELATED: Pharmaceutical Companies Sign Joint Pledge Promising A Safe Coronavirus Vaccine As Public Confidence Dips)
Bruno Cassaro de Andrade, a chemical engineering student, works with a test during the method of separating specific proteins to be applied in the production of vaccines on March 24, 2020 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. (Photo by Pedro Vilela/Getty Images)
The majority of people who don’t plan to get the flu shot said that they also wouldn’t get the coronavirus vaccine. 55% said that they wouldn’t take the coronavirus vaccine, 22% said they would, and 23% were unsure. The data is based on 1,687 responses and the survey was conducted between September 1 and September 10.
Overall, the number of people who said they will get the coronavirus vaccine has been declining. In May, 66% of the 14,206 people surveyed said that they would get the vaccine and 16% said that they would not, data showed. By September, the number of people who said they would get the vaccine declined to 57%, and 22% of people said that they would not get the vaccine. The survey was conducted between May 6 and September 15.
People have also become much less comfortable with vaccines. In January, 69% of the 19,314 people who responded to the survey said that they were “very comfortable” with vaccines, compared to 48% of people who said the same in September. Only 7% of people said that they were “not comfortable at all” with vaccines in January – that number climbed to 18% in September, the survey found. This survey was conducted January 1 through September 16.
The survey comes after President Donald Trump said that the United States could have a coronavirus vaccine as soon as October. United States agencies also announced Wednesday that they had plans to distribute free coronavirus vaccines to all Americans if and when one becomes available.