What’s keeping the unvaccinated from getting a COVID shot? Here’s what a survey found
Nearly half of unvaccinated adults in the United States said they haven’t received a COVID-19 vaccine because they are concerned about potential side effects, a new survey shows.
The U.S. Census Bureau findings released Tuesday, Dec. 28, showed that unvaccinated U.S. adults cited a variety of reasons for having not yet received a coronavirus vaccine.
Not trusting the COVID-19 vaccines and not trusting the government were also among the top reasons. Additionally, the findings broke down which group of adults are more likely to have not been vaccinated against the virus.
The findings are “based on the first data” from the most recent phase of the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, which started in April 2020 to “gauge the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on households.” This set of data was collected Dec. 1-13. The Census Bureau said 60,826 responses were received during the collection period.
McClatchy News reached out to the Census Bureau for information on the survey’s methodology; a margin of error for the findings was not immediately available.
The findings come as the new omicron coronavirus variant is spreading in the United States, accounting for an estimated 58.6% of new cases in the country, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC said omicron “further emphasizes the importance of vaccination and boosters.”
While it seems the variant can more easily evade the COVID-19 vaccines, the CDC said the vaccines are “expected to protect against severe illness, hospitalizations, and deaths due to infection with the omicron variant.” Additionally, data has suggested booster doses offer increased protection against the variant.
The CDC says 61.9% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated and 32.7% of the fully vaccinated have received a booster.
Reasons for not getting the COVID-19 vaccine
Among unvaccinated respondents — which the Census Bureau defines as people who have not received any dose of a COVID-19 vaccine — 49.6% said they are “concerned about possible side effects” of the vaccines.
The CDC says serious side effects that could cause long-term problems are “extremely unlikely” following any vaccination and that the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccines outweigh the “known and potential” risks.
“Adults and children may have some side effects from the vaccine, which are normal signs that their body is building protection,” the CDC says. “These side effects may affect their ability to do daily activities, but they should go away in a few days. Some people have no side effects, and allergic reactions are rare.”
Roughly 42% of respondents said they don’t trust the COVID-19 vaccines and about 35% said they don’t trust the government. Respondents were allowed to select more than one reason for not receiving a vaccine.
The CDC says the COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, as millions of people in the U.S. have received them “under the most intense safety monitoring in U.S. history.”
Roughly 28% of respondents said they plan to wait to see if the vaccines are safe. But the CDC says the vaccines have already met the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s “rigorous scientific standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality needed to support emergency use authorization.” The FDA has given full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
About 32% of respondents said they don’t believe they need a COVID-19 vaccine, 23% said they don’t know if a vaccine will protect them and 22% don’t believe the virus is a big threat.
The CDC recommends that everyone 5 years of age and older get a COVID-19 vaccine. Health officials have said the vaccines are the best way to protect against the coronavirus, which has infected more than 53.1 million people and killed more than 821,000 in the United States as of Dec. 29, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Smaller percentages of unvaccinated respondents listed other reasons:
▪ 8.6% said their doctor has not recommended it.
▪ 1.7% said they’re concerned about cost, despite COVID-19 vaccines being free regardless of insurance or immigration status.
▪ 1.7% said it’s hard for them to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Those who said the vaccine was hard to get were more likely to be non-white, had lower levels of education, were more economically disadvantaged and were much more likely to report having a disability, the Census Bureau said.
Who isn’t vaccinated
The Census Bureau also broke down the demographics of unvaccinated U.S. adults.
Unvaccinated adults tended to be younger than adults who had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
“Roughly 75% of the unvaccinated were under age 50,” the Census Bureau said. “Among the vaccinated, less than half were under age 50.”
Those who are unvaccinated had “lower levels of education,” the Census Bureau said. Respondents who had received at least one dose were twice as likely to have at least a college degree compared to unvaccinated people.
Unvaccinated adults were also less likely to be married than vaccinated adults — 46% compared with 56%.
The Census Bureau also found that the share of unvaccinated white adults was “not different from the share who were vaccinated.”
“The same was true for Hispanic adults,” it said. “But non-Hispanic Black adults were slightly more represented among the unvaccinated (13%) than the vaccinated (11%), a small but statistically significant difference. There were notable differences for the Asian population, however: 6% of the vaccinated were non-Hispanic Asian but only 1% of the unvaccinated were non-Hispanic Asian.”
This story was originally published December 29, 2021 at 10:38 AM with the headline "What’s keeping the unvaccinated from getting a COVID shot? Here’s what a survey found."
