Vaccination increase includes largest Republican gain since April: Gallup

An increase in Americans who say they are vaccinated against COVID-19 includes the largest Republican gain since April, according to a Gallup poll released Wednesday.

Seventy-five percent of respondents said they were vaccinated against COVID-19, up 6 points from August. 

Overall, 80 percent said they either are vaccinated or plan to be vaccinated, the highest tally this year.

For the first time, a majority of Republicans responded that they had received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, the largest monthly uptick from April, when 39 percent said they had been at least partially vaccinated.   

By comparison, 68 percent of independents and 92 percent of Democrats said they are at least partially vaccinated against COVID-19.

The increase in Americans saying they are vaccinated comes amid an uptick in coronavirus infections fueled by the delta variant, which has disproportionately impacted areas of the country with lower vaccination rates overall.

Late last month, the Food and Drug Administration granted full approval Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Gallup noted that it found a sharp decline in unvaccinated Americans saying they were waiting for a vaccine to receive full approval. 

Earlier this month, President Biden required all federal workers to be vaccinated and mandated employers with at least 100 employees to require vaccinations or weekly testing.

While Gallup said it’s too soon for Biden’s policy to affect the vaccination rate of workers, the poll did find that 75 percent of Americans who are employed full-time or part-time are at least partially vaccinated.

This is similar to the percentage of the U.S. population ages 12 and older who have received at least one dose.