NEW YORK (Reuters) – A growing number of Americans want to get the coronavirus vaccine, and most also support workplace, lifestyle and travel restrictions for those not inoculated with COVID-19 , according to a Reuters / Ipsos poll released on Friday.
The national opinion poll of 1,005 people, conducted on Monday and Tuesday, suggested that the pace of vaccinations may increase as more vaccines become available and more people want them.
In all, 54% of respondents said they were “very interested” in getting vaccinated. This happened from a January survey, when 41% expressed the same level of interest and 38% in a May 2020 survey before a coronavirus vaccine was developed.
Interest in the vaccine has increased over the past year among whites and racial minorities, with approximately 6 out of 10 whites and 5 out of 10 members of minority groups now expressing high interest.
Twenty-seven percent of Americans said they were not interested in getting vaccinated, which did not change relative to a similar survey conducted in May.
But, foreshadowing the social challenges that may arise when the United States begins to emerge from the pandemic of the year, the latest survey showed that most Americans want to limit the ways in which unvaccinated people can mix in public.
According to the survey, seventy-two percent of Americans said it was important to know “whether the people around me have been vaccinated.”
A majority, 62%, said vaccinated people should not be allowed to travel by plane. Fifty-five percent agreed that unvaccinated people should not exercise in public gyms, or enter movie theaters, or attend public concerts.
When asked about the workplace, 60% of Americans said they wanted to work for an employer “that requires everyone to be vaccinated against coronavirus before returning to the office” and 56% he thought unvaccinated workers should stay home.
“Different state”
Companies could soon feel increasing pressure to address these concerns. About 18% of the U.S. population has already received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, and President Joe Biden said in a televised speech Thursday night that he would lead states so all adults could receive the vaccine. before May 1st. In Utah, Gov. Cox will open vaccine eligibility to all adults on April 1st.
Dr. Amesh Adalja, a scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said the answers to the survey made sense, given the social restrictions imposed on everyone over the past year.
“People say,‘ If I’m vaccinated, it’s going to change my life, ’” Adalja said. “‘ And if you’re not vaccinated, this is your choice. But you will have a different state because you may be carrying this virus, so you can spread it to another unvaccinated person. “
The results of the poll were somewhat divided according to party lines. Republicans, who have generally been less concerned than others over the past year about coronavirus, also gave less support than Democrats to restrictions on work and lifestyle for the unvaccinated, according to the poll.
Yet even among Republicans, four in ten said they supported people without vaccines going to gyms or movie theaters. Five out of ten Republicans believe vaccines should be made to travel by airline.
The Reuters / Ipsos survey was conducted online, in English, across the United States. It had a credibility range, a measure of accuracy, of 4 percentage points.
(Report by Chris Kahn; Edited by Peter Cooney)
© Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021