More than one in five voters say they are unlikely to take the coronavirus vaccine, according to a new Hill-HarrisX poll.
Twenty-two percent of registered voters in the April 16-19 survey said they are either somewhat or very unlikely to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
By contrast, 43 percent said they are either somewhat or very likely to get the vaccine and 34 percent said they have already been vaccinated.
Those who have already been vaccinated include 40 percent of white voters, 22 percent of Black voters and 17 percent of Hispanic voters.
Overall, 64 percent of Hispanic voters and 54 percent of Black voters said they are at least somewhat likely to take the vaccine, while 37 percent of white voters said the same.
“There are two very important findings from our poll data on vaccinations: First, close to a quarter of voters say they are unlikely to take the vaccine when it becomes available to them. This is a staggering figure, and we’re seeing higher hesitancy among voters in rural areas, those residing in the South and Midwest of the United States, lower income and lower educated cohorts, women, middle aged groups 35-64, and Republicans,” Dritan Nesho, chief pollster and CEO of HarrisX, told Hill.TV.
“Secondly, the early vaccination push has been less successful among minorities than it has been for whites in the U.S. by a factor of two to one. However … among those still waiting and wanting to be vaccinated, majorities of minorities now say they will opt in to take the vaccine. To improve the numbers on both fronts more communication is needed by health authorities and the administration to land the health and economic importance of taking the vaccine,” Nesho added.
President Biden on Wednesday announced the nation has reached the goal of administering 200 million shots within the first 100 days of office.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 30 percent of U.S. adults are now fully vaccinated.
Experts estimate that between 70 percent and 85 percent of the population needs to be vaccinated to reach herd immunity.
The Hill-HarrisX poll was conducted online among 2,881 registered voters. It has a margin of error of 1.83 percentage points.
—Gabriela Schulte
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