The share of Americans who say they are likely to get a Covid-19 vaccine as soon as it’s available is dropping — and the decline is notably more pronounced among Black Americans than among white individuals, according to a new survey from STAT and The Harris Poll.
Overall, 58% of the U.S. public said they would get vaccinated as soon as a vaccine was available when asked earlier this month, down considerably from 69% who said the same thing in mid-August. That change suggests growing concern that the regulatory approval process for a Covid-19 vaccine has been politicized by the Trump administration in the run-up to the presidential election.
STAT
Source: The Harris Poll / STAT. Poll administered Oct. 7-10, 2020.
Drill down further, and the new data show a striking disparity by race. The poll found that 59% of white Americans indicated they would get vaccinated as soon as a vaccine is ready, a decline from 70% in mid-August. Only 43% of Black individuals said they would pursue a vaccine as soon as it was available, a sharp drop from 65% in mid-August. The poll, which queried 2,050 people online from Oct. 7 to 10, was weighted to ensure the sample was representative of the general U.S. population.
The findings appear to underscore an ever-widening chasm in how white Americans and Black Americans perceive the health care system in the U.S., a difference that could reflect both health care disparities and decades of distrust that have only been magnified during the pandemic.
“When we’re looking at the intersection of vaccine and politics, everything is exaggerated. It’s not just racial disparities, but health disparities,” said Rob Jekielek, managing director of The Harris Poll. “Black [individuals] are disproportionately less likely to be within 60 minutes of a primary care physician, which also means they’re less likely to get useful information and instead use a hospital emergency room as a primary mechanism for care. They’re also less likely to have insurance.”
Such disparities have been reflected in the disproportionate toll the pandemic has taken on the Black community. A recent report published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences found that deaths due to the coronavirus were 2.5 times higher among Black individuals than white individuals, after adjusting for age differences.
And from March through mid-July, age-adjusted hospitalization rates due to Covid-19 for Black people — as well as Hispanics and Native American people — were roughly five times higher than that of white people, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
An analysis last July by FiveThirtyEight suggested that testing sites in and near mostly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods are likely to face greater demand than those near predominantly white neighborhoods, and this can contribute to longer wait times. And a study in the Journal of Travel Medicine found the proportion of residents who are people of color in an area is associated with increased travel time to a Covid-19 testing site.
For these reasons, the pandemic has exacerbated concerns about the extent to which the African-American community trusts the U.S. health care system, especially since President Trump has often disparaged minorities. At the same time, there is widespread uncertainty about the safety and effectiveness of any vaccine that his administration pushes out the door.
For the past few months, Trump has repeatedly promoted the idea that a vaccine would soon be available and has leaned on the Food and Drug Administration to move faster, an effort that was seen as a transparent bid to win votes and blunt criticism of his handling of the pandemic.
“There’s a historical level of distrust,” said Jekielek. “And when you think about stalling the spread of Covid-19, these findings indicate that we face an increasingly bigger problem.”
The survey also asked Americans how the news that Trump had tested positive for the virus might affect their actions. About 40% of Americans said they are somewhat or much more likely to get the coronavirus vaccine once it is available. That response was similar among Republicans and Democrats, with 41% and 44%, respectively expressing this view. At the same time, 41% reported their view on a vaccine hadn’t changed even though Trump was infected. Another 19% said they were somewhat or much less likely to pursue an available vaccine.
STAT
Source: The Harris Poll / STAT. Poll administered Oct. 7-10, 2020.
Masks and social distancing, however, elicited a different reaction.
Now that Trump tested positive for Covid-19, 57% of Americans said they were somewhat or much more likely to wear a mask. Among Republicans, 55% reported this response, compared to 66% of Democrats. Overall, only 36% said their position was unchanged, while 7% indicated they were somewhat or much less likely to wear a mask.
Meanwhile, 54% of the U.S. public reported they are now somewhat or much more likely to practice social distancing, with 51% of Republicans and 64% of Democrats expressing this view. Just 7% said they were somewhat or much less likely to practice social distancing after learning that Trump had developed Covid-19.
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” … President Trump has often disparaged minorities.”
Silverman’s credibility is damaged by this slur. There are not enough examples to justify the word ‘often’ – or even one example.
The ad hominem attack makes me wonder if I can trust any of his stats. Is he cherry picking to make political points?
Hi Mr. Turcotte,
Thanks for the note.
And I beg to differ. Over the years, Trump has disparaged Mexicans (who are Hispanic), Muslims and, by way of inference, people from ‘shithole’ countries, such as Haiti and all the countries in Africa. Here are a few links..
https://hispanicfederation.org/media/press_releases/hispanic_federation_condemns_president_trumps_border_wall_speech/
https://medium.com/nilc/86-times-donald-trump-displayed-or-promoted-islamophobia-49e67584ac10
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-referred-haiti-african-countries-shithole-nations-n836946
If anyone was slurred, it was the millions of people who were the subject of his remarks.
As for the data, the data was gathered and compiled by the Harris team and reviewed here by several editors, both before and after the story was written. There was no cherry picking to make political points. It is what it is.
Hope this helps,
ed at pharmalot
Like all viruses do, won’t COVID-19 mutate, making the vaccine for last year’s COVID-19 useless? And didn’t three Universities recently report that people who recently recovered from COVID-19 lost their antibodies two weeks after recovery (prompting each University to conclude the Patient could immediately catch COVID-19 again), and don’t vaccines work the same, prompting antibodies that only last two weeks for last years flu or last year’s Covid-19? Our Immune system isn’t based on two week antibodies, it is based on T cells that stay with us forever. Our T cells are armed when the virus infects is and they stay armed forever. So, if you had a cold or the flu in the past 10 years, it may have been from Mers, or Sars or H1N1 all of which were coronavirus, then your T cells are armed already and you can’t catch COVID-19. Of course they can’t measure our T cells much less what they’re already armed for. Building Immunity requires exposure to our T cells, not two week antibodies for last years flu or COVID.
There are many incorrect statements/assumptions here.
1. All viruses may have the ability to mutate but they don’t all mutate as rapidly as Influenza, which is the reason it requires an annual vaccine. We have plenty of vaccines that are not required annually (chicken pox, MMR).
2. Vaccines don’t “prompt antibodies that only last two weeks”. The flu vaccine triggers the body to develop antibodies, and this process takes about two weeks before immunity is sufficiently mounted, but the immunity lasts at least through the flu season for influenza, and for many vaccines immunity lasts decades or a lifetime (tetanus, measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox).
3. H1N1 is NOT a coronavirus; it is an Influenza virus.
4. No, having a “cold” from Mers or SARS in the last 10 years does NOT make you immune to COVID-19. If that was the case, likely would not have a pandemic on our hands. COVID-19 is a novel virus. We have no immunity because it is new to us. It is not the same as other Coronaviruses.
I’m going to wait to see the side effects. Also, I wonder how long it will be effective. If it’s like the common cold, we may only see a modest benefit and still have to “catch” it periodically to become primed to fight it off. It’s new so right now we are all naive to this particular virus but over time, it may become less virulent for us as we and the virus adapt to each other.
seems futile to only vaccinate the privileged who have health care benefits while ignoring the city’s homeless and uninsured retail workers
Depends on what it means by “available.” I will definitely, eventually add it to my yearly vaccines, but probably not when it first comes out. The main reason for this is I want to let all the side effects reveal themselves within a large population. But other considerations include how it is prioritized. I’m in the “older” risk category, but I’m not losing anything except opportunities to travel
…that most people never have, while others are risking their health and livelihoods every day in producing our food, taking care of others, teaching, delivering packages that people Must Have Today, etc. (Can’t say I’m 100% virtuous since to some extent I’m letting those front-line workers be the guinea pigs for the mass rollout of the vaccines.)
I wonder if the polling and statistics are aware of nuanced attitudes from those of us who are trying to remain well informed.
How many surgeons will take the vaccine? Very few take the flu vaccine becauuse of gillan-barre. I wont either for at least 2 years to see the side effects.
really?
How interesting Republicans are willing to get a vaccine not fully tested, but unwilling to wear a mask. I am at very high risk and will get the vaccine only after it has been proven to be safe and effective.