More Americans Now Willing to Get COVID-19 Vaccine

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans' willingness to be vaccinated against COVID-19 rebounded a bit in October, as seen in Gallup polling conducted before Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna made promising announcements about the likely effectiveness of their coronavirus vaccines. Fifty-eight percent of Americans in the latest poll say they would get a COVID-19 vaccine, up from a low of 50% in September.

These latest data come from a Gallup Panel survey conducted Oct. 19-Nov. 1, as COVID-19 infections continued to increase across the U.S. A vaccine for the disease is seen as key to returning Americans' lives to normal and allowing the lifting of restrictions that would permit a full economic recovery for the country.

The 42% of U.S. adults saying they would not get a vaccine is down from 50% in September, but still indicative of significant challenges ahead for public health and government officials in achieving mass public compliance with vaccine recommendations.

COVID-19 Vaccine Willingness Among Key Groups

Democrats currently show the largest increase in willingness to get a COVID-19 vaccine, with 69% saying they would get a vaccine, compared with 53% in September. Democrats have been consistently more likely than Republicans and independents to say they would get a vaccine since Gallup first asked about the issue in July. In September, the gap between Democrats and Republicans on this issue narrowed to four percentage points, the smallest margin measured to date. This was mostly due to decreased willingness on the part of Democrats -- perhaps because of worries that a vaccine would be rushed out prior to the presidential election, without adequate clinical testing to ensure its safety.

Another significant increase in willingness to get a vaccine is seen in Americans aged 45 to 64, with 49% of this group now willing to do so, up from 36% in September. However, this age group remains the least likely to say they would get a vaccine.

The latest results also show 10-point increases in willingness among women and those without a college degree.

	Sep 14-27	Oct 19-Nov 1	Change
	%	%	pct. pts.
Gender
Men	56	61	+5
Women	44	54	+10
Age
18-44	60	62	+2
45-64	36	49	+13
65+	54	63	+9
Education
No college degree	45	55	+10
College degree	60	63	+3
Party
Democrats	53	69	+16
Independents	47	49	+2
Republicans	49	49	0
Race/Ethnicity
White adults	54	61	+7
Non-White adults	40	48	+8
Region
Northeast	59	66	+7
Midwest	46	55	+9
South	43	52	+9
West	58	62	+4
Gallup Panel, 2020

Americans' Reasons to Not Get a COVID-19 Vaccine

In a follow-up question, 37% of Americans who would not get a vaccine say the rushed timeline for the development of the vaccine is the main reason they would not be vaccinated. Another 26% say they want to wait to confirm the vaccine is safe. Rounding out the reasons for some Americans' hesitancy are 12% saying they don't trust vaccines in general and 10% who want to wait to see how effective the vaccine will be. An additional 15% cite other reasons for not getting a COVID-19 vaccine. Included among these reasons are the politicization of the vaccine potentially comprising its safety and the view that the vaccine is not necessary.

The majority of Democrats who say they would not get a vaccine, 54%, reference concerns about rushed development. This compares with 26% of Republicans and 32% of independents who say the same.

One in five Republicans who do not plan to get a COVID-19 vaccine mention distrust of vaccines in general, a view shared by 14% of independents and 2% of Democrats.

	Concerns about rushed timeline	Want to wait to confirm it is safe	Don't trust vaccines generally	Want to wait to see how effective it is	Other reason
	%	%	%	%	%
Overall	37	26	12	10	15
Gender
Men	35	22	12	12	19
Women	38	29	12	8	12
Age
18-44	46	33	5	2	15
45-64	37	25	14	8	16
65+	32	23	14	17	14
Education
No college degree	35	22	15	12	17
College degree	41	36	7	7	10
Party
Democrats	54	30	2	4	10
Independents	32	30	14	12	11
Republicans	26	19	20	14	22
Race/Ethnicity
White adults	37	24	13	10	17
Non-White adults	37	30	11	11	12
Region
Northeast	19	25	18	17	22
Midwest	43	27	11	8	11
South	36	29	12	10	13
West	44	17	11	7	20
*Among those who say they would not be vaccinated
Gallup Panel, Oct. 19-Nov. 1, 2020

Bottom Line

Even before the announcements made by Pfizer and BioNTech on Nov. 9 and by Moderna on Nov. 16 about the development of highly effective vaccines for COVID-19, Americans were already more willing to get a vaccine than they were in September. The recent increase is primarily due to a jump in willingness among Democrats.

However, Americans overall are still less likely than they were earlier this year to say they'd get a COVID-19 vaccine. Four in 10 remain unwilling to get a vaccine, indicating public health officials face an uphill climb in convincing a good share of the public to do so.

A longer period of development and clinical testing may help to address three of the four most common reasons for hesitancy among those who are unwilling. However, convincing the 12% of Americans who refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccine due to a general distrust of vaccines may prove more difficult. Previous research by Franklin Templeton and Gallup has shown that ensuring that a vaccine is effective, has no side effects, and is approved and released next year (rather than in 2020) may help the CDC and state health departments to encourage more Americans to get the vaccine.

Learn more about how the Gallup Panel works.