Poll: Nearly One in Five Americans Refuse Coronavirus Vaccine

Nearly one in five Americans want absolutely nothing to do with Chinese coronavirus vaccines — and the rejection has nothing to do with availability.

According to a Gallup poll released Friday, 18 percent of Americans can be described as “vaccine-resistant.”

“These Americans say they would not agree to be vaccinated if a COVID-19 vaccine were available to them right now at no cost and that they are unlikely to change their mind about it,” the poll report states.

The survey, which polled nearly 3,500 U.S. adults and has a margin of sampling error of ±2 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level, was conducted during a rise in U.S. coronavirus cases but before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its mask guidance for vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

Another five percent of Americans would not agree to be vaccinated but say they are at least somewhat likely to change their mind. The remainder of participants either report having already been vaccinated (69 percent) or say they plan to be (8 percent). The vaccinated group is up from 64 percent in May but shows little change from the 68 percent recorded in June, according to the poll report.

“Americans not planning to get vaccinated generally cite three main reasons: They want to wait to confirm the vaccine is safe or gets full FDA approval (18 percent), they have already had COVID-19 and have antibodies (18 percent), or they don’t trust vaccines in general (18 percent),” according to Gallup.

The poll noted that fewer Americans not planning to get the vaccine are less concerned about how quickly the vaccine was developed (14 percent). Thirteen percent do not believe they would face serious health effects from the virus, and 12 percent are concerned about adverse allergic reactions to the vaccine.

Notably, more people now than in spring (18 percent compared to 10 percent) say they have had the virus and, therefore, have antibodies. However, the percentage who believe they will not face serious health consequences from the virus has decreased from 21 percent to 13 percent.

Gallup drew attention to the U.S. vaccination pace, which “has considerably slowed during the summer” despite President Joe Biden’s goal of reaching a 70 percent vaccination rate by July 4.

Biden did not reach his goal until August 2, though he continues to harp on the dangers of the coronavirus. In early July, he announced plans to go door to door in an attempt to get more Americans jabbed. He said during a speech in late July, “If you’re out there unvaccinated, you don’t have to die.”

As Biden and the CDC continue to falter on pandemic messaging, the inconsistency only makes some Americans dig their heels in deeper.

“The slower pace is largely owed to the reluctance of many Americans to get vaccinated rather than the availability of the vaccine,” the poll concluded.