Poll: 83 percent of voters likely to take COVID-19 treatments if available

A vast majority of voters said they would likely take some form of COVID-19 treatment if one existed, a new Hill-HarrisX poll finds amid lingering hesitancy to coronavirus vaccines among the U.S. population.

Eighty-three percent of registered voters in the Nov. 29-30 survey said if they got sick with COVID-19, they would likely take an available treatment, including 50 percent saying very likely and 33 percent saying somewhat likely.

Only 17 percent said they are unlikely to take a coronavirus treatment after they got sick.

Overwhelming majorities of voters across party affiliations said they are open to taking treatments once they are sick with the virus, including 88 percent of Democrats, 82 percent of independents, and 78 percent of Republicans. 

While post-diagnosis treatments do exist to treat the virus, such as Regeneron Pharmaceuticals’ COVID-19 antibody drug, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has yet to approve something that would be widely available and able to be taken at-home.

Last week, an FDA advisory group narrowly voted to recommend Merck’s COVID-19 antiviral pill for infected adults at high risk for severe coronavirus illness, hospitalization or death.

The Hill-HarrisX poll was conducted online among 924 registered voters between Nov. 29 and 30. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points. 

—Gabriela Schulte