US

Nearly Half Of Those Who Haven’t Taken The COVID Vaccine Say They Will Definitely Not Get It: Poll

Almost half of Americans who haven’t taken the vaccine have said they definitely won’t take it, according to a poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The poll released Friday found that 46% of unvaccinated Americans say they will definitely not get the vaccine, and 29% say they will probably not get it.

Seven percent of those surveyed who aren’t vaccinated said they definitely will get a vaccine, and 15% said they probably will.

This result is up from a previous Associated Press-NORC poll in May when 34% of unvaccinated Americans surveyed said they definitely wouldn’t take the vaccine.

Only 21% are very or extremely worried about themselves or a family member contracting coronavirus, and just 25% are highly concerned that the recently lifted restrictions will lead to more coronavirus cases, the Friday survey found.

A majority of 54% of Americans surveyed said they are not worried at all they or a family member will contract coronavirus, and 41% are not concerned that the lifted restrictions will increase cases in their area.

Thirty-four percent of Americans said they are very concerned that the lockdown restrictions were lifted too early. In contrast, 27% thought the government reacted too slowly, according to the survey. Thirty-nine percent of Americans surveyed said the government lifted restrictions at the right time.

The AP-NORC poll of 1,125 adults was conducted June 10-14 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.2 points.

President Joe Biden is looking to have 70% of Americans be vaccinated, but that goal seems less likely as vaccine rates decline. The most recent data shows 52.59% of Americans are vaccinated, according to Our World In Data.

States have started offering incentives for unvaccinated residents. New York will give 50 4-year scholarships to any public college or university, West Virginia is giving away guns, and Washington state allows licensed marijuana retailers to give out free joints.

“Ultimately, this is going to be up to individuals to get shots in their arms. We can take every creative step we possibly can take. We also understand we don’t have 100 percent control here, but we’re going to do everything we can from the federal government to reach that goal,” Jen Psaki, White House press secretary said June 3 at a press briefing.