Amid the CDC director’s warning of “impending doom” over rising coronavirus cases, there is a bit of good news: Americans’ satisfaction with the vaccination rollout is surging while vaccine hesitancy is shrinking.
According to a Gallup poll taken this month and released on Tuesday, approval with the vaccination effort has grown to 68 percent. That’s doubled from 34 percent satisfaction since January. The groups with the most satisfaction include adults age 65 and older, at 77 percent, and those who received at least one dose of a vaccine, at 75 percent. Democrats’ approval of the rollout tripled to 73 percent since January, when President Trump left office, while Republicans’ satisfaction has ratcheted up by 17 points to 66 percent.
The drive to vaccinate enough of the population to achieve herd immunity could be undermined by those who oppose taking the shot. But according to a large-scale survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, the percentage of those who are vaccine-hesitant is dropping, The Wall Street Journal reports. The survey found that about 17 percent of adults said they would either definitely not or probably not get vaccinated. Vaccine hesitancy among Black Americans shrunk considerably from 13 percent in January to 5 percent as of mid-March. And while reluctance to get vaccinated remains highest in the South, many southern states have seen a sharp decline in hesitancy since January, particularly Alabama, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
The sea change in attitudes comes as the pace of vaccination nears 3 million shots a day and most all adults will be eligible ahead of Biden’s May 1 timeline for nationwide eligibility.
