Vaccinated Americans Making Less Effort to Social Distance

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A Gallup analysis finds U.S. adults who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are less likely than those partially or not yet vaccinated to be practicing strict social distancing. These results come as an increasing number of U.S. adults are getting vaccinated and the Centers for Disease Control this week issues new guidance on safe behaviors for vaccine recipients.

Whereas 38% of adults who have been fully vaccinated say they are completely or mostly isolating themselves from people outside their household, majorities of those who have been partially vaccinated (51%) or not yet vaccinated but plan to be (57%) say the same. Americans who indicate they will not get vaccinated are least likely to be completely or mostly isolating themselves, at 28%.

	Fully vaccinated	Partially vaccinated	Plan to get vaccinated	Do not plan to get vaccinated
	%	%	%	%
Completely isolated	10	16	20	11
Mostly isolated	28	35	37	17
Partially isolated	32	26	23	18
Isolated yourself a little	16	14	12	15
No attempt to isolate	14	9	8	39
NET: Completely/Mostly	38	51	57	28
Gallup Panel

These results are based on combined January and February data from Gallup's COVID-19 tracking survey, encompassing interviews with 7,806 U.S. adults who are members of Gallup's probability-based panel. In the January interviewing, 2% reported being fully vaccinated and 7% partially vaccinated, and in February, the figures were 7% and 9%, respectively.

Polling was completed before the Food and Drug Administration approved emergency use of the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine. Thus, all respondents who had been vaccinated received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines which require two doses.

Twenty-nine percent in both the January and February interviewing say they do not plan to get vaccinated at all.

Gallup has recently found little change in the percentage of all U.S. adults who are completely or mostly isolating themselves from others when compared with measures taken during the November and December surge in new infections. At 47%, strict social distancing behavior remains higher than before that surge. Given the relationship between vaccination status and social distancing efforts, the figure should come down as more Americans get the required doses of the vaccine in the coming months.

Vaccine Recipients Less Likely to Avoid Public Places, Small Gatherings

In addition to making less of an effort to isolate themselves from others, vaccine recipients are less likely to report avoiding public places and small gatherings of people. However, those fully vaccinated are no less likely than their peers to avoid travel and large crowds. Importantly, vaccine recipients are just as likely as non-recipients to say they are wearing facemasks in public, consistent with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control.

Americans who are not planning to get vaccinated are far less likely than all others, including those who are fully vaccinated, to report practicing these COVID-19 mitigation practices.

	Fully vaccinated	Partially vaccinated	Plan to get vaccinated	Do not plan to get vaccinated
	%	%	%	%
Avoided going to public places	60	73	69	29
Avoided small gatherings of people	59	69	67	26
Avoided going to events with large crowds	82	83	84	40
Avoided traveling	77	78	77	38
Worn a mask on your face when outside your home	97	98	97	71
Figures are the percentage who report having done the activity in the past seven days
Gallup Panel

Fully Vaccinated Americans Not Showing a Surge in Most Out-of-Home Activities

A separate question, asking about specific places respondents have visited in the past 24 hours, finds little difference by vaccination status. Those who have and have not been vaccinated are about as likely to say they visited stores, restaurants and other people's houses in the past 24 hours.

One exception concerns workplaces, although the distinction, in this case, is between those who have been fully or partially vaccinated versus those who have not yet been vaccinated. Fifty-eight percent of employed adults who have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine report visiting their workplace in the past 24 hours, compared with 43% of workers who have not yet been vaccinated. To some degree, this difference could reflect that essential workers are more likely to have been prioritized for vaccination in addition to feeling safer going into the workplace because they have been vaccinated.

Workers who do not plan to get vaccinated are more likely than others to have visited their workplace in the past 24 hours, with 68% reporting doing so.

COVID-19 Concern Diminished, but Not Eliminated Among the Vaccinated Population

As would be expected, getting vaccinated is linked with significantly lower worry about getting COVID-19. Still, those who have been fully vaccinated retain some level of concern, with 35% very or somewhat worried about getting the disease. Meanwhile, at least six in 10 who have been partially vaccinated or who have not yet been vaccinated are worried about getting COVID-19.

Those who do not plan to get vaccinated are much less likely to be worried about getting COVID-19, with 19% expressing worry, which could partly explain their unwillingness to get immunized.

	Fully vaccinated	Partially vaccinated	Plan to get vaccinated	Do not plan to get vaccinated
	%	%	%	%
Very worried	6	11	16	4
Somewhat worried	29	49	50	15
Not too worried	43	34	28	38
Not worried at all	22	6	6	43
Gallup Panel

When those who say they do not intend to get a COVID-19 vaccine are asked about reasons why they will not do so, 10% say they already had the coronavirus, which could partly explain their lower worry about getting the disease. The most common reasons they give for not wanting to get vaccinated are safety concerns (22%), a belief they wouldn't get seriously ill from the virus (19%), the rushed timeline for developing the vaccines (16%) and distrust of vaccines, generally (15%).

Overall, 49% of Americans are very or somewhat concerned about getting COVID-19, similar to the 51% who expressed worry in the January survey, but down from 58% when infections began to surge in November.

Vaccine Recipients More Optimistic About COVID-19 Situation

Overall, 44% of Americans say they are satisfied with the vaccination rollout in the U.S., an increase from 34% in January. Americans who have been vaccinated, either fully or partially, are more likely than those who have not yet been vaccinated to report being satisfied with the rollout.

Vaccine recipients are also more likely than non-recipients to believe the COVID-19 situation is getting better rather than worse. Roughly six in 10 vaccine recipients view the situation as improving, compared with less than half of those who haven't gotten vaccinated.

	Fully vaccinated	Partially vaccinated	Plan to get vaccinated	Do not plan to get vaccinated
	%	%	%	%
Satisfied with U.S. vaccination process
Very satisfied/Satisfied	50	46	34	45
Very dissatisfied/Dissatisfied	49	54	67	55
Impression of U.S. COVID-19 situation
Getting a lot/a little better	62	58	47	38
Staying the same	22	18	22	40
Getting a lot/a little worse	15	25	30	22
Gallup Panel

Americans' vaccination status is unrelated to their perceptions of how long COVID-19 disruptions will continue in the U.S. About half of Americans, regardless of vaccination status, expect disruptions to continue into the second half of 2021 or beyond.

Bottom Line

Public health experts, political leaders and ordinary citizens saw COVID-19 vaccines as key to getting U.S. society back to "normal" as quickly as possible. The rapid timeline for developing vaccines -- with three now being approved for use in the U.S. -- and recent improvements in vaccine supply and administration are helping to put the goal of getting back to normal closer each day.

Americans who have been vaccinated feel freer than those not yet fully vaccinated to relax their social distancing behaviors. But as of now, self-reports of outside-the-home activities -- apart from visiting the workplace -- appear not much different from those who have not been fully vaccinated, perhaps because such activities would still mostly be done with people who have not yet been fully vaccinated. As a greater proportion of the public gets fully vaccinated, reports of visits to restaurants, stores and other people's homes may increase.

Because those who have been vaccinated may still be capable of spreading the disease to others, it is important to note that Americans who have gotten vaccinated still almost universally say they wear facemasks when out in public. To some degree, this could also be related to uncertainty about new variants of the coronavirus and how well the vaccines protect against those.

Last week the Biden administration predicted that there would be enough supply to vaccinate everyone in the U.S. who wanted to do so by the end of May. With a steady 71% of Americans saying they have been vaccinated or wish to do so, the question is whether that proportion would be high enough to establish herd immunity from the disease in the U.S., or if efforts need to be made to encourage the 29% not planning to get the vaccine to do so.

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