Three-quarters of Americans confident COVID-19 vaccines will be available by summer’s end: poll

Almost three-quarters of Americans said they are confident the COVID-19 vaccine will be widely available in their state by the end of the summer, according to a poll released Wednesday. 

Seventy-three percent of respondents said they are very confident or somewhat confident that their state’s residents will be able to get the vaccine before the end of the summer, the Quinnipiac University poll found. About one-quarter of participants said they have little or no confidence that will happen. 

Democrats were most optimistic, with 31 percent saying they’re very confident and 53 percent saying they’re somewhat confident. Independents followed with 27 percent saying they are very confident and 47 percent saying they are somewhat confident.

The majority of Republican respondents at 63 percent said they are either very confident — 18 percent — or somewhat confident — 45 percent — that the vaccine will be available by the end of summer.

But Republicans also had the most doubt out of the three party affiliated groups, with 33 percent saying they had little or no confidence in that deadline, compared to 24 percent of independents and 17 percent of Democrats. 

When it comes to reopening schools, 47 percent of respondents believed it was happening at the right pace in their communities. Republicans were more likely at 47 percent to think schools are not returning to in-person instruction quickly enough, while Democrats and independents were more likely to agree with the current pace. 

A majority of respondents said they think teachers and grocery store workers should have priority for receiving the vaccine, at 76 percent and 73 percent respectively.

The Quinnipiac University poll surveyed 1,056 adults between Feb. 11 and 14 and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points. 

Vaccinations began in the U.S. in December as the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were approved for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration. Both require two doses. 

Almost 40 million Americans have received at least one of the vaccine, and more than 15 million have received both necessary doses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.