Posted at With the Delta variant of COVID-19 surging, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urging vaccinated Americans in areas of high transmission to wear masks indoors, there’s significant incentive for unvaccinated Americans to finally get the jab.
Encouragingly, new research by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and the Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) shows that vaccine hesitancy has decreased among all Americans, but significant barriers to access still remain.
Those barriers include time constraints, a concern about side effects, and a lack of access to transportation, particularly impacting young Americans and communities of color. You can read the full polling memo here.
Some key findings:
“Two-thirds of Americans (67 percent) report having received at least one dose of a vaccine, and another 4 percent say they will get vaccinated as soon as possible. Less than one in five (15 percent) are hesitant, a decrease from 28 percent in March, and 13 percent say they will not get vaccinated, similar to the 14 percent who said they would not get vaccinated in March.
“The proportion of Americans who worry that the long-term effects of the COVID-19 vaccines are unknown dropped more than 10 percentage points, from 58 percent in March to 47 percent in June,” the survey found
“Beyond hesitancy, our survey reveals that barriers to vaccine access—such as concerns about time off work or a lack of transportation or childcare—remain obstacles for many. These barriers to access disproportionately impact Black, Hispanic, and young Americans, many of whom are otherwise receptive to getting vaccinated,” PRRI CEO and founder Robert P. Jones said in a statement.
Pennsylvania ranked 5th nationwide for total doses administered, according to the most recent state Health Department data. As of Wednesday morning, 62.5 percent of all adults, aged 18 and older, were fully vaccinated. That’s still well short of the 70 percent goal that officials had been hoping to reach.
Through midday on Wednesday, the Health Department had confirmed 645 new cases of the virus, bringing the statewide total to more than 1.22 million since the start of the pandemic. Statewide, 445 people were hospitalized, with 95 of them in hospital intensive care units.
The Health Department also confirmed 7 new fatalities, bringing the statewide total to 27,838 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
For some skeptics, the new poll suggests that a faith-based approach could encourage them to get vaccinated.
Four in 10 vaccinated Hispanic protestants and three in 10 vaccinated Black protestants were more likely to say that one or more faith-based approaches convinced them to get the jab, the poll found.
Forty-four percent of Hispanic Protestants told pollsters that finding the time to to get vaccinated or deal with the possible side effects is a critical reason (22 percent) they have not been vaccinated.
More than three in 10 (31 percent) of hesitant white Catholics told pollsters that a faith-based approach could encourage them to get vaccinated, up from 15 percent earlier in the year, the poll found.
And nearly a third (32 percent) of unvaccinated white evangelical Protestants who attend services told pollsters that one or more faith-based approaches would make them more likely to get vaccinated.
All told, Hispanic Catholics made the largest gains in vaccine acceptance, rising from 56 percent in March to 80 percent in June. Nearly eight in 10 white Catholics (79 percent) also are accepters, up from 68 percent in March.
“Other non-Christians (78 percent), other Christians (77 percent), the religiously unaffiliated (75 percent), and white mainline Protestants (74 percent) are also above the 70 percent mark, with increases of 11-15 percentage points in each group,” pollsters found.
“As religious leaders work to build community trust in the COVID-19 vaccine, they should simultaneously provide services that help eliminate barriers so that all willing populations are receiving vaccinations,” Jones said.
Meanwhile, political divisions over the vaccine remain as pronounced as ever.
Less than half of QAnon believers (47 percent) accept the efficacy of the vaccine, and nearly a third (32 percent) say they will not get vaccinated. But, among QAnon rejecters, 88 percent are vaccine accepters, and only 4 percent say they will not get vaccinated, the poll found.
Other key findings:
- “Republicans remain less likely than independents or Democrats to be vaccine accepters but have increased from 45 percent accepter in March to 63 percent in June, a larger gain than independents (58 percent to 71 percent) or Democrats (73 percent to 85 percent).
- “However, Republicans remain divided by what media they trust. Those who most trust far-right news outlets (46 percent) have become more likely than they were in March (31 percent) to refuse vaccination.
- “Majorities of Americans without college degrees in all race and ethnic groups are vaccine accepters, whereas most were below 50% accepter in March. Black and Hispanic Americans without four-year degrees have increased most—about 20 percentage points (40 percent in March to 59 percent in June for Black Americans; 49 percent in March to 69 percent in June for Hispanic Americans).
- “Republicans, Americans under age 50, and rural Americans remain among the most likely to be hesitant or refusers, but about one in five of those who are vaccinated in each of these groups—those under 50 (19%), Republicans (20 percent), and rural Americans (20 percent)—say one or more of these faith-based approaches helped convince them to get vaccinated,” the poll found.
To reach their findings, PRRI and IFYC sampled the opinions of 5,123 adults aged 18 and older. Interviews were conducted from June 7 and 23. The sample included 1,733 Republicans, 1,716 independents, and 1,936 Democrats, with a total margin of error of 1.65 percent.
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