One in four Americans said they would never get the coronavirus vaccine, a new national poll reveals.
Republicans were the biggest COVID-19 vaccine resisters, with 42 percent saying they will “never get” it, the Monmouth University poll released Wednesday found.
A higher vaccination rate is crucial to reach what scientists call herd immunity from the killer virus. Public health officials estimate that between 70 percent and 85 percent of people need to be immune from the coronavirus before the disease fades away.
The pollster asked respondents: “Thinking about the Covid vaccine, do you plan to get the vaccine as soon as you are allowed, will you let other people get it first to see how it goes, or is it likely you will never get the vaccine if you can avoid it?”
Half of the respondents who hadn’t been vaccinated said they would get the COVID-19 vaccine as soon it is available to them.
Another 6 percent of citizens said they have already received a dose of the vaccine — bringing the pro-vax tally to 56 percent.
Another 19 percent of respondents said they would prefer to let other people get the vaccine first and see how it goes.
But 24 percent of those queried said it’s likely they will never get the vaccine if they can avoid it.
Democrats were most eager to get the vaccine as soon as possible — 72 percent, when including those who already got jabbed. Only 10 percent of Dems said they would never get inoculated.
By comparison, only 51 percent of registered independents and 39 percent of Republicans are on board with the vaccine.
More Republicans — 42 percent — said they will avoid ever getting the vaccine, exceeding party members who would get it.
About one in four indies said they would never get it — mirroring the national average.
“Reluctance to get the vaccine is driven more by partisanship than any single demographic factor. It says a lot about the depth of our partisan divide that it could impact public health like this,” said Monmouth pollster Patrick Murray.
He noted that the poll was conducted before the announcement that Johnson & Johnson would soon ask for emergency approval for its one-dose vaccine. The existing Pfizer/BioNtech and Moderna vaccines require two doses.
The survey lumped blacks, Hispanics and Asians into one category in comparison to white respondents.
Overall, white Americans (58%) are slightly more likely than minorities (52%) to be willing to be first in line for the vaccine.
There are some racial differences among Democrats — with 79 percent of white Democrats versus 62 percent of minority Democrats who have either received the vaccine or want to get it as soon as possible.
In New York City, there is a yawning racial disparity in residents who’ve been vaccinated thus far.
White New Yorkers who have received the coronavirus vaccine outnumber Asian and Latino recipients by more than three-to-one, and black recipients by more than four-to-one, according to city demographic data released Sunday.
A recent city survey also found that residents of the outer boroughs were more hesitant than counterparts in Manhattan in seeking the vaccine.
The Monmouth University Poll was conducted by telephone from Jan. 21 to 24, 2021, with 809 adults in the United States. The survey results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
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