The nation's major political parties are divided on more than just who will control the White House and Congress in coming years, according to the latest KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor poll.
"The poll shows that most of the nation still trusts the CDC and the FDA on vaccines," said Drew Altman, president and CEO of KFF. "But there is a partisan gap, and most Republicans don't trust the nation's regulatory and scientific agencies responsible for vaccine approval and guidance."
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Among all U.S. adults polled:
- 23% said they definitely will get the new vaccine;
- 23% said they probably will get it;
- 19% said they probably will not get it; and
- One-third said they definitely will not get it.
As has been true throughout the pandemic, a much smaller share of Republicans (24%) than Democrats (70%) expect to get the new vaccine, a 46 percentage point gap. Several factors may contribute to the partisan divide:
Trust in public health agencies. Overall, 63% of the public trusts the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention a great deal or a fair amount when it comes to providing reliable information about vaccines, and 61% trust the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. However, much larger shares of Democrats than Republicans have at least a fair amount of trust in vaccine information from the CDC (88% vs. 40%); their local public health departments (87% vs. 51%); and the FDA (86% vs. 42%).
Threat perceptions. Three-quarters of Democrats believe there is a new wave of COVID-19 infections across the country. By contrast, similar shares of Republicans said there is (48%) and isn't (51%) a new wave.
Taking precautions. Democrats are more than three times as likely as Republicans (58% vs. 16%) to say that news about the new COVID-19 wave has led them to take extra precautions, including being more likely to wear a mask in public or avoid large public gatherings, or being less likely to travel or to dine indoors at restaurants.
Testing. Republicans are half as likely as Democrats (9% vs. 19%) to say that they were sick in recent months and got a COVID-19 test.
In other findings, the share of the public who intend to get the new COVID-19 vaccine is higher than the share who received previous booster shots but not as high as initial vaccine uptake in 2020. Almost 4 in 10 people who previously received a COVID-19 vaccine said they probably or definitely won't get the new shot.
Although the new vaccine is recommended for children ages 6 months and older, fewer than 4 in 10 parents said they expect to get the vaccine for their children ages 12 to 17 (39%), ages 5 to 11 (36%) and ages 6 months through 4 years (34%). More than half of parents with children in each age group said they probably or definitely won't get their children vaccinated.
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Alan Goforth
Alan Goforth is a freelance writer in suburban Kansas City. In addition to freelancing for several publications, he has written a dozen books about sports and other topics.
