The American public’s willingness to get a Covid vaccine is reaching a saturation point among adults, and many parents do not plan to vaccinate their children, a new national survey suggests.
Only 9 percent of respondents said that they had not yet gotten a shot but intended to do so, according to the survey, which was published in the April edition of the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Vaccine Monitor.
Three in 10 parents said they planned to vaccinate their children as soon as they could. No vaccine is yet available in the U.S. for children; the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is expected to be authorized soon for those aged 12 to 15.
The survey found that public confidence in the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has plummeted since health authorities suspended using it for 10 days to examine possible links to a rare, dangerous blood clotting problem.
But it also found significant progress in persuading Republicans, who have been among the most hesitant, to be vaccinated.
The findings highlight the challenges ahead for the Biden administration’s efforts to persuade hesitant people to take the vaccine, even as a growing number of scientists and public health experts have concluded that it is unlikely that the country will reach herd immunity.
Overall, slightly more than half of a nationally representative sample of 2,097 adults surveyed said they had gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, a finding that matches data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The administration announced steps on Tuesday to encourage more pop-up and mobile vaccine clinics and to distribute shots to local pharmacies as well as primary care doctors and pediatricians.