Partisan views on COVID vax harden post-pandemic
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Views on the COVID-19 vaccine have crystallized during the first immunization campaign of the post-pandemic era, with partisanship — and, to a lesser extent, age — remaining the strongest predictor of whether someone will seek out a vaccine, according to Ipsos polling provided to Axios.
The big picture: About half of Americans say they plan to get the updated COVID-19 vaccine, while a small number report experiencing difficulty lining up a shot.
- Some 70% of Democrats indicate they will get the latest COVID shot, which includes 8% who say they already have. That's compared to 28% of Republicans who plan to get vaccinated (4% already received).
- Drilling down further: 45% of Democrats said they are "very likely" to get the shot, while 58% of Republicans said they are "not at all likely" to get it.
- "Even though COVID has receded from public view, there is still some polarization and strong feelings," said Mallory Newall, vice president at Ipsos. "There's not a lot of Americans who are in the middle."
Meanwhile, two-thirds of people 65 and older say they'll likely get the updated vaccine, and just over half of those between ages 50-64 said likewise. About a third of people ages 18-29 plan to get the vaccine.
- "That tells me some of the messaging we've seen from the administration and other public health entities about making sure higher-risk people get the shot — older people in particular — may be starting to reach the intended audience," Newall said.
The new shots, cleared by federal regulators almost a month ago, were formulated to provide protection against more current strains of the coronavirus. Health officials plan to roll out updated vaccines every fall better matched to circulating variants.
- Given how views on the COVID vaccine have hardened, Newall said she expects some people will always get the updated vaccine and some people just won't — similar to Americans' attitudes toward flu shots.
Of note: Amid widespread headlines about the frustration some Americans have faced getting a vaccine appointment, about 1 in 10 say they or someone they know has had difficulty finding a vaccine.
Thought bubble: It's one thing to say you'll get the vaccine, and another to actually follow through.
- When Ipsos asked about intentions a year ago, as last fall's vaccination campaign was getting underway, 47% said they expected to get the shot. (The question was asked to people who were previously vaccinated, but Ipsos recalculated the results to be from the full sample.)
- Just 17% of the U.S. population wound up receiving last year's vaccine, including 43% of seniors despite being a high-risk group.
Methodology: This Ipsos Poll was conducted Sept. 29-Oct. 1 by Ipsos' KnowledgePanel. This poll is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 1,025 general population adults age 18 or older.
- The margin of sampling error is ±3.3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults.
