PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A summer surge of COVID-19 infections continues around the country, and the FDA recently approved updated vaccines. But according to the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, the number of Americans who believe misinformation about the vaccine and the virus is rising.
A new Annenberg Science and Public Health Knowledge survey, released Wednesday, shows many adults are reluctant to get the updated COVID-19 vaccine.
“Our survey research, which goes back three years, has been tracking misinformation about the COVID vaccines — in particular, statements that suggest that getting COVID is safer than getting the vaccine, and that if you get the vaccine, it's going to affect your DNA,” said survey director Kathleen Hall Jamieson, who heads up the center.
“None of those things are true.”
Findings indicate over ¼ of Americans believe the vaccines have been responsible for thousands of deaths, and over ⅕ believe it’s safer to get a COVID infection than to get a vaccination. And the percentage of those who believe the vaccine changes people’s DNA has nearly doubled — to 15%, from 8% in April 2021.
Jamieson says increased buy-in to these misconceptions leads to increased reluctance to vaccinate.
“And the reason that's problematic is because COVID is still with us — even though people have kind of gotten away from the idea.”
She says many people won’t get the vaccine because they don't see an urgent or immediate need, but the risk is there.
“We're seeing fewer people being seriously ill, but that doesn't mean that the COVID infection isn't still out there, that the pathogen isn't still there, and that those who are particularly vulnerable to it aren’t still at higher risk than anybody would like of hospitalization and, yes, even death,” Jamieson said.
She says there’s evidence that there's a lot of the virus that causes COVID-19 out in the world, according to the CDC’s Wastewater Surveillance System. The CDC shows that infection rates are still likely to rise in Pennsylvania.
“And as this virus mutates, we're increasing the likelihood that the risk is increasing because we don't necessarily have all the immunity built up against that new variant. We need all the help we can get right now, particularly with our most susceptible populations.”
Older people, people who are immunocompromised, and people with conditions made worse by COVID symptoms, in particular, are still at high risk. And Jamieson says now is the time to ramp up awareness both of the value of vaccinating against COVID-19 and of the risks of contracting the disease.
The study also shows a decline in vaccinations for flu and RSV.