What Is Driving the Decline in Americans' Willingness to Take the COVID-19 Vaccine? --study

What Is Driving the Decline in People’s Willingness to Take the COVID-19 Vaccine in the United States? Over the past few months, there has been an indisputable decline in the number of people in the US who say they plan to get the vaccine for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) when one becomes available. A national survey by Pew Research Center in May found that 72% of people in the US said they... JAMAHealthForum

Over the past few months, there has been an indisputable decline in the number of people in the US who say they plan to get the vaccine for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) when one becomes available. A national survey by Pew Research Center in May found that 72% of people in the US said they would get the vaccine if it were available. By September, that number had dropped to 51%. Survey results from CNN showed a similar decline, from 66% who said they would get the vaccine in May to 51% in early October.

What is disputable, however, is why this decline is occurring. The COVID-19 pandemic has become highly politicized, with partisanship affecting attitudes toward wearing a mask and confidence in the accuracy and validity of COVID-19 statistics. Similarly, much has been made about the politicization of the vaccine. And a number of voters believe that politics have influenced the development of the vaccine. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey from early October found that 62% of people in the US are worried that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will rush to approve a COVID-19 vaccine without making sure that it is safe and effective owing to political pressure from the Trump administration. Moreover, the survey found that 55% of people believe that President Trump is intervening with the FDA’s job of reviewing and approving a COVID-19 vaccine.

But while coverage has primarily pinpointed the driver of the decline to be political in nature, there are a number of other factors at hand. First, people in the US have a history of reluctance to accept new vaccines. Shortly after the polio vaccine was made available in 1954, Gallup found that 60% of people said they would get the newly created vaccine, while 31% said they would not get the vaccine and 9% were not sure. We know how history transpired, with near universal adoption of the polio vaccine in the US today; however, a sizable number of people were hesitant at the outset. Similarly, after the attacks of September 11 elevated concerns of biological attacks on people in the US, including the use of smallpox, Gallup found that 55% of people would get a smallpox vaccine, while 35% would not get the vaccine and 10% were unsure.

Next, attitudes in the US on the importance of vaccines have endured some erosion over the past 20 years (though they are still high). ...