Despite Americans being increasingly willing to get a coronavirus vaccine, concerns about potential side effects remain high, a recent poll found.
The CivicScience poll, published Tuesday, revealed that the number of people who said that they would get a coronavirus vaccine right away rose from 17% in October to 27% in November. By December, 39% of respondents said that they would get the vaccine right away. (RELATED: McEnany Says Senior Trump Administration Officials Will Soon Publicly Take The Vaccine — Trump Might Not Be One Of The First Though)
An increasing percentage of people (43%) have reported they plan to receive the vaccine once it becomes available to them. This is the highest percentage observed since CivicScience began tracking intent among Americans in early October. pic.twitter.com/SnDNbd4BmD
— CivicScience (@CivicScience) December 15, 2020
Despite the increasing number of people willing to get the coronavirus vaccine right away, 67% of respondents said that they have concerns about getting the vaccine. Even among those who said that they are willing to get the vaccine, 43% said that they have concerns about side effects. The poll indicated that 55% of Americans who said they were not going to get the vaccine were concerned about side effects, and 65% of those unsure of whether or not they would get a vaccine shared that concern.
Respondents were most likely to be worried about the side effects of the vaccine, potential long-term health effects and the effectiveness of the vaccine. Others were concerned about the vaccine because they said that they were not a big enough health risk to get it or believed it would infect them with coronavirus.
Older Americans were more likely to say that they would get the vaccine right away, the poll found. Men were also more comfortable with getting the vaccine than women.
Pfizer received emergency approval for its vaccine Dec. 11 from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The first doses were administered Monday, and initial doses will continue to be administered to front-line workers, the elderly and Americans who have a high risk of complications from the virus.