Roughly one in five Americans have no intention to be given a vaccine to protect themselves against the novel coronavirus, a new poll released on Wednesday by Monmouth University has revealed.
The survey, which sampled 800 individuals aged 18 and older, found that 21% of respondents have zero interest in ever submitting themselves to the COVID-19 vaccine. Compared to past surveys conducted by pollsters in January and March 2021, the percentage of those unwilling to be vaccinated dropped by just three points.
Another 12% of survey participants acknowledged that they wanted to let others receive the vaccine first in order to “see how it goes.”
Data provided by the US’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that more than 75.3 million Americans have been fully vaccinated against the deadly respiratory disease, with over 122 million having received at least one dose of an approved vaccine.
“The number of people who have been skittish about the vaccine has dropped as more Americans line up for the shot, but the hard core group who want to avoid it at all costs has barely budged,” Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in a statement accompanying the poll results.
The latest findings came as the COVID-19 vaccine offered by pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson was temporarily paused, after six cases of patients suffering a rare blood-clotting disorder emerged.
All six cases involved women between the ages of 18 and 48 who developed blood clots within one to three weeks after vaccination. One woman from Virginia has died, whereas another in Nebraska has been hospitalized and is currently in critical condition.
Murray noted in his statement that “the recent news about [Johnson & Johnson] vaccines is probably not going to help that situation,” adding that, “on the other hand, it might not make it all that much worse since much of this reluctance is really ingrained in partisan identity.”
Of the individuals who indicated they were uninterested in being vaccinated, 43% of the respondents identified as Republicans. Another 22% said they were independents, as only 5% affiliated themselves with Democrats.
The survey, which has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points, was conducted between April 8 and 12.
