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American adults who are not planning to get vaccinated against COVID-19 insist there is nothing that could make them change their minds, a new poll reveals.
Nearly 70 percent of those surveyed by The Economist/YouGov,said they’ve already gotten the vaccine, are in the process of doing so or are planning to get it.
However, about 20 percent of adults said they will not be immunized and, when asked if they could be convinced to get the jab, almost 80 percent said ‘no.’
Prior studies have surveys have suggested that may vaccine hesitant people were taking a ‘wait and see’ approach to vaccines and might be more inclined to get them once more others had, without any major problems.
The new survey results suggest most who don’t want the shots now are digging their heels in, and comes amid fears that the U.S. will never achieve true herd immunity against the virus due to vaccine hesitancy.
A new poll from The Economist/YouGov found 69% of U.S. adults have gotten vaccinated against COVID-19 or are planning to, but 18% will not get the shot
When asked those who won’t get vaccinated were asked if there was anything that could change their minds and convince them to be immunized, 79% said ‘no’
For the poll, 1,500 U.S. adult citizens were surveyed online between May 1 and May 4 on several issues, including vaccinations.
One question asked respondents how they would describe their ‘personal situation’ regarding COVID-19 vaccines.
About 42 percent said they were fully vaccinated, 14 percent said they have received one dose and 13 percent said they plan to be – for a total of 69 percent.
Among age groups, adults over age 65 were the most likely to be fully vaccinated with 67 percent said they had completed their series while just 27 percent of those aged 18 to 29 said the same thing.
Vaccinations status also differed among party lines with 87 percent of Democrats fully vaccinated or planning to be compared to 56 percent of Republicans.
Meanwhile, 18 percent of U.S. adults said they do not plan to be inoculated against the coronavirus.
Respondents who are between ages 45 and 64, make under $50,000 per year and identify as Republican were the most likely to say they won’t get the vaccine.
When asked if anything could change their minds, 79 percent said nothing could do so.
Just five percent said ‘yes’ and 16 percent were unsure.
Now, several experts fear that herd immunity may not be feasible and that the U.S. may have to live with the virus forever.
They say this is because new variants, which are more contagious, are spreading more quickly and because the pace of vaccinations has slowed.
This could result in COVID-19 becoming an endemic disease, meaning it will always be present in the population, but circulating at low rates.
Dr David Heymann, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told The New York Times that as more people achieve herd immunity through vaccination or infection, future outbreaks will be smaller.
However, he says there is no doubt that outbreaks will occur and, in some cases, will be deadly.
‘This is the natural progression of many infections we have in humans, whether it is tuberculosis or HIV,’ Heymann said.
‘They have become endemic and we have learned to live with them and we learn how to do risk assessments and how to protect those we want to protect.’
The good news is that, even if COVID-19 does become an endemic disease, doctors say the U.S. may be turning a corner.
‘This summer is going to seem so much closer to normal than we’ve had in a very long time,’ Dr Jonathan Reiner, a professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University, told CNN on Sunday.
‘The key statistic to think about is…what percentage of the adult population has received at least one vaccination.’
As of Monday morning, 58 percent of the adult population has received at least one dose and 43.8 percent are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Reiner says the number of cases will rapidly decline once the number of adults given an initial shot has surpassed 60 percent.
‘I expect during the month of May we will see daily cases drop dramatically and deaths finally drop to quite low numbers,’ he said.
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