Slim majority plan to take COVID-19 vaccine as soon as it becomes available: survey

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Slim majority plan to take COVID-19 vaccine as soon as it becomes available: survey

A slight majority of Americans plan to receive the coronavirus vaccine as soon as it becomes available, according to a new Ipsos poll released on Tuesday.

Fifty-one percent of respondents said they will take a first-generation vaccine as soon as it becomes available, up 6 points from the previous week and up 14 points from the same survey about two months.

Seventy percent say they would receive a vaccine once it becomes available if approved by public health officials. Among demographic groups less likely to trust a vaccine than the general population, such as black Americans and Republicans, a majority also say they would receive a vaccine under these circumstances.

Belief that a vaccine will be available in the next three months has also increased, with 47% saying yes, down from 32% a week ago, according to the poll.

Amid widespread warnings from public health officials that large Thanksgiving gatherings are a health risk, respondents are largely aware of the threat, the poll found.

Sixty-one percent of those surveyed changed their Thanksgiving plans, with the most common plan change being to eat only with members of their immediate household, at 29 percent. Another 24 percent say they changed their plans to have a small dinner and 9 percent said they no longer plan to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Seventy-two percent of respondents consider eating indoors in a restaurant to be high to moderate risk, up from 68% last week, and 33% say they went out to eat last week, up from 40% the week before .

Seventy-two percent of Americans say they wear a mask every time they leave their homes, an all-time high that reflects a steady rise since the mid-1960s in recent months.

Researchers interviewed 1,002 adults from November 20 to 23. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 to 3.4 percentage points.