One in four Americans said they would never receive the coronavirus vaccine, reveals a new national survey.
Republicans were the most resistant to the COVID-19 vaccine, with 42 percent saying they “will never make it”, revealed the Monmouth University survey released on Wednesday.
A higher vaccination rate is crucial to achieving what scientists call collective immunity against the killer virus. Public health officials estimate that between 70% and 85% of people need to be immune to the coronavirus before the disease goes away.
The researcher asked the respondents: “Thinking about the Covid vaccine, do you plan to get the vaccine as soon as it is allowed, will you let others take it first to see how it goes, or are you likely to never get the vaccine if you can prevent it? “
Half of the respondents who were not vaccinated said they would receive the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as it was available to them.
Another 6% of citizens said they had already received a dose of the vaccine – bringing the pro-vax count to 56%.
Another 19 percent of respondents said they would prefer to allow others to receive the vaccine first and see how it looks.
But 24% of respondents said they will probably never get the vaccine if they can avoid it.
Democrats were most eager to get the vaccine as soon as possible – 72 percent, including those who have already been bitten. Only 10% of Dems said they would never be vaccinated.
In comparison, only 51 percent of registered independents and 39 percent of Republicans are on board with the vaccine.
More Republicans – 42 percent – said they would never get the vaccine, exceeding the party members who would.
About one in four indies said they would never make it – reflecting the national average.
“The reluctance to receive the vaccine is motivated more by partisanship than by any single demographic factor. It says a lot about the depth of our party division that it could impact public health like this, ”said Monmouth researcher Patrick Murray.
He noted that the research was conducted before the announcement that Johnson & Johnson would soon apply for emergency approval for its single dose vaccine. The existing Pfizer / BioNtech and Moderna vaccines require two doses.
The survey grouped blacks, Hispanics and Asians in one category compared to white respondents.
Overall, white Americans (58%) are slightly more likely than minorities (52%) to be first in line for the vaccine.
There are some racial differences between Democrats – 79 percent of white Democrats versus 62 percent of minority Democrats who have received the vaccine or want to get it as soon as possible.
In New York City, there is a huge racial disparity among residents who have been vaccinated so far.
White New Yorkers who received the coronavirus vaccine outnumber Asian and Latin recipients by more than three to one, and blacks by more than four to one, according to city demographics released on Sunday.
Recent city research also found that residents of outlying neighborhoods were more hesitant than their Manhattan counterparts to get the vaccine.
The Monmouth University survey was conducted by phone from January 21 to 24, 2021, with 809 adults in the United States. The survey results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
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