Roughly 1 in 4 American adults say they "definitely" plan to get the updated COVID-19 vaccine, which is designed to protect against new variants of the virus.
According to a new survey from the nonprofit health policy group KFF, roughly another quarter of adults say they "probably will" get the shot, approved by the FDA and recommended by the CDC in early September.
On the other side of the coin, 33% of adults say they "definitely do not" plan to get the new vaccine, while another 19% say they "probably will not."
Taken together, the survey finds, slightly more Americans say they don't intend to get the new vaccine than those who do.
Reflecting patterns from earlier vaccine rollouts during the pandemic, the groups most likely to say they definitely or probably will get the new vaccine include people at least 65 years old (64%) and Democrats (70%), according to the survey. A much smaller share of Republicans (24%) expect to get the vaccine – a 46 percentage point gap, the survey shows.
Confidence in safety of the new vaccine is also largely partisan. More than 8 in 10 Democrats (84%) say they are confident in the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine, compared to 1 in 3 Republicans (36%), according to the survey.
"The poll shows that most of the nation still trusts the CDC and the FDA on vaccines – 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," KFF President and CEO Drew Altman said in a statement.
While the new COVID-19 vaccine is recommended for children ages 6 months and up, the survey shows fewer than 4 in 10 parents say they expect to get the vaccine for their children ages 12-17 (39%), ages 5-11 (36%), and ages 6 months through 4 years (34%). More than half of parents with children in each age group say they probably or definitely won't get their children vaccinated.
The survey also shows that somewhat larger shares of eligible people expect to get an annual flu shot and a newly recommended vaccine for RSV than plan to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok