Poll: Most unvaccinated Americans mistakenly think shots are riskier than COVID

More than half of unvaccinated Americans believe COVID-19 injections are more dangerous than the virus, according to a new poll released Wednesday.

This belief is wrong. The virus has already killed more than 600,000 Americans. And it kills more and more every day.

But the new deaths are almost exclusively among the unvaccinated, offering striking proof that the shots work and are safe, just as officials and scientists have always said.

Even so, a significant portion of Americans remain suspicious. Wednesday’s poll report helps explain why, especially when it comes to those who seem strongly against getting the vaccine.

The report comes from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation’s Vaccine Monitor project, which has been tracking public perceptions and experiences with the vaccine since December, when the first vaccines became available. And there has certainly been a lot of progress since then.

As of July 27, when the Kaiser researchers finished their final round of questions, 67% of adults said they had either gotten the shot or would get the shot as soon as they could. This matches official statistics from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which reported this week that 70% of adults had received at least one injection.

One of the reasons the number of vaccinations continues to rise is that the number of Americans who describe themselves as undecided and who say they will “wait and see” how vaccines work has declined dramatically from 39 % in December to only 10% now.

Maybe it’s seeing friends and family getting vaccinated, with only sporadic or mild side effects. Maybe it’s hearing about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines from people they trust. Perhaps it’s the fear of the delta variant, which spreads more easily than its predecessors.

Whatever the reason, many of these people finally decide to get the vaccine.

But the number of Americans who say they “definitely won’t” get the vaccine has hardly changed.

It was 15% in December. It’s 14% now.

Behind this determination hides a set of convictions at odds with reality. Nine in ten say they have no fear of getting seriously ill, according to the Kaiser poll, and three-quarters think injections are more dangerous than illness.

As to why this group holds these beliefs, their demographics offer some clues: 65% are white adults and 58% describe themselves as Republicans or Republican-leaning.

This is the same group that obtains information primarily from right-wing media sources – some on television, others on social media – who have questioned the severity of the pandemic and, at times, the usefulness of the vaccine.

It’s a different story with the “wait and see” group, who are less likely to be Republicans and more likely to be people of color and who represent the population most likely to respond to outreach and advocacy efforts. ongoing education.

“There are really two groups of unvaccinated Americans,” Ashley Kirzinger, associate director of the foundation’s public opinion research group, told HuffPost.

Of course, there is still a lot of diversity within the groups, as Kirzinger noted.

The “wait and see” group includes many white Republicans, just as the “definitely not” group includes Democrats and people of color. Some people hesitate to get the vaccine because they mistakenly think it will cost them money – or because they are afraid of wasting time at work.

And just last week, after Kaiser pollsters completed this month’s fieldwork, the nationwide vaccination rate started to rise again. The acceleration has been particularly noticeable in parts of the country which are now experiencing peak cases, which closely correspond to areas with low vaccination rates.

Some could meet the new vaccine requirements that governments, employers, health systems and universities are putting in place. Others may change their minds due to the increased suffering of their neighbors and communities.

In other words, the people in the “wait and see” category may have decided that there is no point in waiting any longer because they have seen enough.

Either way, it’s kind of progress – and something to watch out for in next month’s poll.