A new ABC News/Ipsos poll found that partisanship plays a significant role in an American's decision on whether to be vaccinated against the coronavirus (COVID-19) disease.
According to the poll released Monday, Republicans are more than four times as likely to refrain from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, after a mass vaccination drive was kicked off in the US on Monday. The poll found that 26% of Republican respondents, compared to 6% of Democratic respondents and 14% of independents, are likely to refuse the jab.
In the meanwhile, 49% of Democrats are willing to be immunized as soon as the vaccine becomes available to the public, compared to 28% of Republicans and 42% of independent respondents. However, 45% of the 621 respondents prefer to wait a bit before receiving the vaccine.
The survey, conducted in the period between 12 and 13 December, also found that 93% of elderly people are willing to become inoculated against the coronavirus disease, with 57% saying they will receive the vaccine as soon as it becomes available. As for adults under 30 years, 80% are willing to be vaccinated, but 50% are likely to wait a bit.
On Monday, some Americans began receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, authorized for emergency use by the US Food and Drug Administration on Friday. According to the priority plan approved by the FDA, the mass vaccination drive will start with frontline health workers.
As of Monday, the United States had registered over 16.4 million coronavirus infections, along with at least 300,361 deaths, according to data collated by Johns Hopkins University.
