As Americans head into the fourth holiday season with the COVID-19 virus, just over half of adults (51%) said they “definitely” or “probably” will not get the latest COVID-19 vaccine, which became available 2 months ago. A large portion of those not getting vaccinated included 31% of all adults who previously received a COVID vaccine, according to the November KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor survey. Of the remaining respondents, 1 in 5 (20%) said that they have been vaccinated with the new vaccine and 28% said they “definitely” or “probably” will get the new shot.
The findings suggest that the lack of public concern about contracting COVID-19 may be why people have not gotten the latest vaccine. Three quarters (74%) of the public said that they are “not too worried” or “not at all worried” about getting COVID-19 over the holidays, almost 3 times the share who said they were “very” or “somewhat” worried (26%). When asked if they were worried about spreading the virus to people close to them, 68% said that they were not vs 31% who responded they were.
The public was split on precautions taken because of COVID-19. Half (50%) of the public said they planned to take at least 1 of the 5 potential precautions to reduce their risks during the fall and winter: avoiding large gatherings (35%); wearing a mask in crowded places (30%); avoiding travel (25%); avoiding indoor restaurants (19%); or taking a COVID-19 test before visiting family and friends (18%). The other half plans to take none of those precautions.
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Who’s Getting Vaccinated?
People who are at least 65 years old ― a group especially at risk of severe COVID-19 illness ― are among the most likely to say that they’ve already gotten the new vaccine (34%), though they are no more likely than younger adults to say that they plan to take at least 1 of the 5 precautions.
The majority of Black adults (59%) and Hispanic adults (59%) surveyed said they have either already gotten the vaccine or expect to get the new vaccine. In contrast, most White adults (58%) responded that they “definitely” or “probably” will not get it. Partisanship also continued to play an outsized role in vaccine attitudes. For example, 80% of White adults who identify as Republicans say they do not plan to get the new vaccine ― more than twice the share of White adults who identify as Democrats (29%).
Among previously vaccinated adults, reasons cited for getting the latest vaccine include:
- Lack of concern about getting the virus (52%)
- Too busy (37%)
- Waiting to get it later (32%)
- Had bad side effects after a previous dose (27%)
Approximately 16% of respondents said that they can’t afford to take time off work to get the vaccine, including more than a third (35%) of Hispanic adults and 22% of Black adults. About 13% of respondents cited not being able to get a vaccine appointment as a reason for not getting the new shot.
For a full report about the KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor survey results, click here.
About the Survey
Designed and analyzed by public opinion researchers at KFF, the survey was conducted from October 31-November 7, 2023, online and by telephone among a nationally representative sample of 1,401 U.S. adults. Interviews were conducted in English and in Spanish. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4 percentage points for the full sample. For results based on other subgroups, the margin of sampling error may be higher.
This article originally appeared on Clinical Advisor
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