One-fifth of U.S. adults do not plan to get vaccinated, according to Friday’s Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) Vaccine Monitor.
The May survey, which tracks the population’s progress and attitudes toward vaccinations for the Chinese coronavirus, found “steady progress” in the percentage of U.S. adults getting vaccinated, 62 percent of U.S. adults indicating they have received at least one virus shot — a six-point uptick from April’s survey. The percentage of those who say they will “wait and see” before getting a vaccine fell three points, going from 15 percent to 12 percent.
However, one in five Americans indicated they do not plan to get the vaccine. Of those, seven percent said they will only get it “if required,” and 13 percent said they will “definitely not” get vaccinated.
Some of the hesitancy could be contributed to a sense of uncertainty about Pfizer’s and Moderna’s significantly more popular yet non-traditional mRNA shots, which the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describes as a “new type of vaccine” that effectively “teach[es] our cells how to make a protein—or even just a piece of a protein—that triggers an immune response inside our bodies.”
The survey also found a drop in the share of those who intend to get a vaccine as soon as possible, “leaving a very small group that is ready to get vaccinated right away”:
While the share of U.S. adults who report receiving at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine has continued to climb from 56% in April to 62% in May, the share who say they intend to get the vaccine as soon as possible fell to just 4%, leaving a very small group that is ready to get vaccinated right away. At the same time, the share who say they want to “wait and see” before getting vaccinated inched downward from 15% to 12% over the past month, while the shares saying they will get a vaccine “only if required” for work or other activities, or will “definitely not” get vaccinated remain essentially unchanged since January.
The news comes as the Biden administration aims to have 70 percent of the population receive at least one dose of the virus by the Fourth of July.
“I’d like to get it 100 percent, but I think realistically we can get to that place between now and July Fourth,” President Biden said, acknowledging that the vaccination rate is slowing down. That could explain, in part, the White House’s recent collaboration with Snapchat, which appears to target the younger population.
The recently rolled out augmented reality lens allows users to “ask” one of four vaccination-related questions to leaders and experts, including President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett.
When users click the question “Why should I get vaccinated,” they are directed to a “call” with Biden, who tells them they “have to get vaccinated” and warning that new virus variants are “affecting young people.”
As Breitbart News reported:
Notably, Biden failed to note that the risk factors, particularly for younger people contracting the virus, are extremely low, lower than original estimates issued over a year ago. According to Worldometer figures, last updated May 14, the Infection Fatality Rate (IFR) stood at 1.4 percent, with 98.6 percent of those contracting the virus recovering.
“Getting the vaccine can prevent you from spreading it to your friends and to your family. Let’s end the COVID crisis once and for all,” Biden pleaded on the filter:
According to the CDC’s May 28 data, 133,532,544 people in the U.S. are “fully vaccinated,” representing 40.2 percent of the population. The data shows 166,388,129 receiving at least one dose, representing 50.1 percent of the population.