Nearly a third of US adults undecided on COVID-19 vaccine: poll

Almost a third of U.S. adults are undecided on whether they’ll get the COVID-19 vaccine and are taking a “wait and see” approach, a Kaiser Family Foundation poll showed.

The poll, released Friday, found that 31 percent of adults are going to “wait until it has been available for a while to see how it is working for other people” before getting the coronavirus vaccine. 

Many who are hesitant to get the vaccine say their fears stem from how fast the vaccine was developed and potential side effects, despite the available vaccines being approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

There are even some health-care workers who are hesitant to get the vaccine, with officials in New York acknowledging it has been difficult convincing some frontline workers to take the vaccine.

However, the survey found that those who said they would “wait and see” for the vaccine could be convinced to get it sooner if a health-care provider they trusted or friends and family got the vaccine.

The survey found the group of those who want to wait is politically and racially diverse as well as younger, with 61 percent under the age of 49.

Although it is possible to get hospitalized from coronavirus in that age group, it is less likely that those who are younger will get seriously ill from the virus.

In the “wait and see” crowd, 51 percent are white, 16 percent are Black and 19 percent are Hispanic. It was also comprised of people from various political stripes, with 43 percent identifying as Democrat or leaning Democrat and 36 percent as Republican or leaning Republican.

While fewer Republicans were part of the “wait and see” crowd, Republicans overall in the poll were more likely to consider the coronavirus not as serious as health officials made it out to be.

Health officials say that vaccinations are going to be an important part of things going back to how they were pre-pandemic times. Although many still are skeptical of the vaccine, trust has gone up significantly since the development of the vaccines was first announced. 

The survey of 1,563 U.S. adults was conducted Jan. 11-18 with an overall margin of error of 3 percentage points.