A coronavirus vaccine this year? Most Americans don’t think it will happen, poll finds
When it comes to a coronavirus vaccine, many American seem skeptical, a poll found.
An Associated Press/NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll of 1,056 adults across the country asked respondents when they believe a COVID-19 vaccine will be available to the public and what their plans are for getting one. The poll found most don’t think it will be ready in 2020 and that many may not get it.
The poll was conducted between May 14-18 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.
Vaccine development can take years, but while the world is in the throws of the coronavirus crisis, dozens of research groups across multiple sectors are racing to get one ready as experts have said it could be critical to ending the pandemic, according to the Mayo Clinic.
President Donald Trump has previously said the development of a vaccine looks “promising” and that one will be ready by the end of the year — if not before — something experts have said will take a “medical miracle,” NBC reports.
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper downplayed those doubts last week, CNBC reports, saying he’s confident the Pentagon will meet the “aggressive timeline” to have one ready.
And Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s top infectious disease expert, told NPR last week it’s “conceivable” that a vaccine could be ready by December if there are no “unanticipated setbacks.”
Twenty percent of participants in the poll said they believe a vaccine will be ready by the end of this year.
Another 61% said they expect it will be ready in 2021, while 17% said they think it will take even longer, the poll says.
The majority, 79%, responded that they believe a vaccine is “important criteria” for reopening businesses and activities where they live, with 46% of those saying it’s essential to reopen and 33% saying it’s important but not essential.
Of those who think a vaccine is essential, 65% said they would get the shot when it’s available.
Overall, less than half of those surveyed, 49%, said they plan to get the vaccine. Another 31% aren’t sure if they will and 20% said they won’t get it.
Similarly, a 2019 poll from the National Foundation for Infectious Disease found 52% of respondents planned to get vaccinated for that flu season, despite 60% agreeing it’s the best way to prevent flu deaths and hospitalizations.
During the 2018-2019 flu season, 45.3% of adults got a flu shot, up 8.2 percent from 2017-18, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Of those who said in the poll that they would not get the coronavirus vaccine, 70%, cited concerns about side effects as their reasoning. Just over 40% reported they would be concerned the shot would give them the virus. That compares to 34% who reported concern about side effects in the flu vaccine poll and 22% who reported concerns about getting the virus from the shot.
The CDC say flu shots cannot cause infection with the flu virus.
Older Americans and those worried about someone in their household contracting the virus were more likely to report they would get the vaccine, the poll found, while black Americans were more likely than other racial or ethnic groups to say they would not get it.
Additionally, Democrats were more likely than Republicans to say they plan to get vaccinated.
The top reasons reported among those who say they plan to get the vaccine were protecting themselves and protecting their families from the virus.
Many also said they believe it would help keep them from getting seriously ill, help them feel safe around others and protect their community.
