A person receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.Photo: FRANK AUGSTEIN/POOL/AFP via Getty
A new survey has found that over a quarter of Americans are “vaccine hesitant” about taking a shot to help prevent contracting thecoronavirus.
The group went on to share thatuncertainty over the vaccinewas highest among Republicans (42 percent), people aged 30 to 49 (36 percent), people who live in rural areas (35 percent) and Black adults (35 percent).
Furthermore, 33 percent of American survey participants “who say they have been deemed essential workers” said they definitely or probably wouldn’t opt to take the vaccine, as well as 29 percent of workers in the health-care-delivery industry.
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Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images
“Among those who are hesitant to get a COVID-19 vaccine,” the KFF states, “the main reasons are worries about possible side effects (59 percent cite this as a major reason), lack of trust in the government toensure the vaccines' safety and effectiveness(55 percent), concerns that the vaccine is too new (53 percent) and concerns over the role of politics in the development process (51 percent).”
The group adds, “About half of Black adults who say they probably or definitely won’t get vaccinated cite as major reasons that they don’t trust vaccines in general (47 percent) or that theyare worried they may get COVID-19from the vaccine (50 percent), suggesting that messages combatting particular types of misinformation may be especially important for increasing vaccine confidence among this group.”
Patient receiving a vaccination.Getty
RELATED VIDEO: Nurse in Queens Among First in U.S. to Receive COVID Vaccine in Livestreamed Administration
Friday’s approval meant that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine could begin to be distributed to people 16 years and older, marking “a significant milestone in battling this devastating pandemic that has affected so many families in the United States and around the world,” FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn, M.D.,said in a press release.
The FDA also said the “potential benefits outweigh the known and potential risks” and assured the public and medical community that “a thorough evaluation of the available safety, effectiveness and manufacturing quality information” was conducted. Notable politicians — including former PresidentsBarack Obama,George W. BushandBill Clinton— have evenvolunteered to take the vaccine publiclyto prove its safety to the U.S. public.
In the U.S. alone, the contagious respiratory virus has infected more than 16.6 million people, and at least 302,314 have died as a result of COVID-19 as of Tuesday afternoon,according to datafromThe New York Times.
source: people.com
