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Seven out of 10 Americans say they will “definitely or probably” get a COVID-19 vaccine, a new survey has found.
The new statistic — 71 percent — is a considerable jump from September, when 63 percent said they’d get the jab, according to a poll Tuesday from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The nonprofit health research organization surveyed 1,676 adults amid fears from experts that not enough Americans trust the coronavirus vaccine.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, has said that around 75 to 80 percent of the population would need to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity.
Twenty-seven percent of those recently surveyed said they would “definitely or probably” not get vaccinated.
“This group is disproportionately made up of Republicans and of people with no more than a high-school level education,” Kaiser said in a statement.
Black Americans, people living in rural areas and Republicans were among the most hesitant about getting the shot — but their reasons varied, according to the report.
“Some Black adults are hesitant for reasons that could change with more information,” the report said.
Around 71 percent of those who say they won’t get the vaccine said they’re concerned about possible side effects, while about 50 percent of the group fear they could get the virus.
For Republicans, 57 percent of those surveyed cited “the risks of COVID-19 are being exaggerated” as a major reason they definitely or probably would not get a vaccine.
“Many Americans who are hesitant are simply reserving judgment before they are ready to get vaccinated. However, nearly one in four Republicans don’t want to get vaccinated because they don’t believe COVID poses a serious threat,” said Mollyann Brodie, executive vice president with the Kaiser Family Foundation, according to CNN.
Liz Hamil, director of Kaiser’s public opinion survey research program, said that messaging will be critical to instill confidence in the vaccine.
“Based on our data, what happens in this initial rollout is going to be critically important in both how smoothly it rolls out but also how those reports get filtered out to the media, and what people’s different media sources are telling them about how that initial rollout goes,” Hamil told CNN.
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