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Acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine continues to soar, according to a new USA TODAY / Suffolk University Poll, but pessimism is also on the rise over when things in the United States will return to normal.
Both results may indicate that President-elect Joe Biden’s messages are being heard. He took the vaccine himself and in front of the camera – which President Donald Trump did not do – and he warned the pandemic was going to get worse before it got better.
Today, 56% of people say they will receive the vaccine as soon as it becomes available, a jump of 10 percentage points from the USA TODAY poll in December and a 30 point increase since October.
“The more people who get the vaccine and they see it’s safe… the more people are willing to go and do it,” said Shellie Belapurkar, 50, a nurse practitioner from Nashua, New Hampshire, who was among the interviewees. She received the vaccine herself and volunteers at a clinic every week to give it to others.
“It’s all about education, and I don’t think we’ve educated our people enough about the dangers” of the coronavirus, she said in an interview.
Most of the change came from those who were reluctant to get the vaccine until others took it first. Those who voiced this view were 47% in October, 32% in December and only 22% now.
“When they first announced the vaccine was available I was a little hesitant,” said Sandi Bethune, 71, retired training manager for AT&T of Oakland, Calif. “I was never going to make it, but I wanted to wait a while and let other people be the guinea pigs.” Now she said, “As soon as I can take it, I take it.”
But those who say they don’t get the vaccine have barely moved, rising to 18% now from 20% in October and December.
“There are so many things that are not good for our bodies,” said Brook-lyn Parker, 28, a cosmetologist from Watertown, New York, who said she would never get the vaccine. “For me, natural vaccination is a better way to get as far as COVID, much like the flu.” As proof, she noted that she has never been vaccinated against the flu but has only caught the flu twice.
Independent auditors have reported that COVID-19 is much deadlier than the flu, and relying on “herd immunity” without a vaccine would result in the deaths of millions of Americans.
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The poll of 1,000 registered voters, conducted by landline and cell phone from January 11 to 15, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
Optimism about a return to normal in the United States has waned.
In December, a majority of 51% expected things to return to normal by the end of this year. Now only 44% think that way, down 7 points. The proportion of those who say it will take several years has increased by 4 points to 31%.
One in five, or 20%, asked when the nation would return to normal, answered “never”.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Poll: COVID Vaccine Acceptance Rises; pessimism too
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