“Covid-19 Vaccination Skeptics”
Vaccination campaigns will face an uphill battle with some skeptics. According to the authors of one preliminary study, which surveyed a demographically representative sample population of 493 US adults, about one-quarter of adult Americans (23%) said they’ll refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccination when one becomes available. Nearly one-fifth (19%) of respondents characterized themselves as being skeptical of vaccines. Of these, 62% said that they would not get the COVID-19 vaccine. About one-sixth (16%) of all respondents specifically self-identified as anti-vaxxers. Although most people said they do plan to get the vaccine (when available), the number of those who said they will not get it may be high enough to threaten the nation’s collective immunity. People who hold anti-vaccine beliefs may jeopardize the effectiveness of a COVID-19 vaccine once it is available, due to issues of noncompliance. But these results did not really surprise the investigators. Although the investigators expected such a response, what surprised them was the number of people who said they would reject COVID-19 vaccination even though they are not vaccine skeptics. If someone is already biased against vaccines, the medical establishment, etc., then they will keep these biases, and be skeptical of medical expertise or other established experts. Surprisingly, 15% of people who are at least somewhat supportive of vaccines said that they would not get the COVID-19 vaccine.
