Most U.S. workers say their colleagues should be forced to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before returning to their offices, according to a new survey.
57% of workers expressed support for workplace vaccine warrants in the CNBC / SurveyMonkey poll released on Friday, while 41% said they opposed it and 2% had no answer.
The results show quite strong support for the necessary vaccines among industries, age groups and racial groups. But there is a strong political divide, with 75 percent of Democrats supporting vaccination warrants against only 41 percent of Republicans.
The online survey of 9,209 Americans conducted from November 30 to December 14 could help guide business leaders ’decisions about vaccination policies as health officials work to combat public skepticism about the traits that are being perpetrated. they developed in record time as the deadly coronavirus took over the world.
While 60 percent of workers surveyed said they were already fully working from their usual jobs, vaccines could play an important role in helping offices return to normalcy after months of closure and security measures.
According to the survey, some white-collar industries showed stronger support for the need for vaccination than certain blue-collar sectors. For example, approximately 68% of consulting workers and researchers supported vaccination mandates, compared with 51% of manufacturing employees.
Older Americans were also more likely to support these policies, with 73 percent of those over 65 supporting them compared to 51 percent of those aged 35 to 44, according to the survey.
There were also racial differences, although a significant portion of each racial group supported vaccine requirements in the workplace.
87% of Asian workers said they supported them, compared to 55% of white workers, 56% of black workers, 63% of Hispanic workers, and 49% of those who identified as “other.” .
It appears that Americans have warmed up with coronavirus vaccines as they made their way through the regulatory approval process. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, approximately 71% of Americans surveyed in December said they would definitely or probably get vaccinated, compared to 63% in September.
However, Vice President Mike Pence received his shot on live television Friday morning in an effort to bolster confidence in the pioneering Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine that was launched this week.
Moderna’s vaccine is expected to continue early next week after a panel from the Food and Drug Administration recommended its approval for emergency use Thursday.