Here’s why some vaccine skeptics changed their minds and got COVID shots, poll says
Around one-fifth of Americans who said in an earlier poll that they were hesitant or weren’t going to get COVID vaccines ended up changing their minds, according to a recent survey.
A Kaiser Family Foundation poll released Tuesday found that 21% of people who said in January that they were waiting to get shots, would only get vaccinated if required or definitely wouldn’t are now vaccinated. The survey was conducted June 15-23 with a sample size of 878 adults and a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.
Seventeen percent of those who are now vaccinated despite expressing hesitancy in January said they were convinced to do so by a family member, 10% said they were persuaded by a health care provider or doctor and 5% said they were convinced by a close friend.
Sixty-five percent of vaccinated adults, including some who were vaccine skeptics, said in the survey that they have attempted to persuade family members or close friends to get shots.
“Seeing their friends and family members get vaccinated without serious side effects, talking to family members about being able to safely visit, and conversations with their personal doctors about their own risks were all persuasive factors for these individuals,” researchers wrote. “A small but meaningful share also say the easing of restrictions for vaccinated people was a factor in their decision to get a vaccine.”
Alex Carlson, a 26-year-old physical therapist, said she has lupus and was worried about how the shots would impact her immune system, ABC News reported.
Carlson said she was reassured after doing her own research and speaking with co-workers and her rheumatologist, who she said was “very supportive, even despite the lack of research for immunocompromised people,” according to the publication.
“And so I got it,” Carlson said.
Haifa Palazzo, a 68-year-old Ohio resident, said she was hesitant to get COVID shots and that she would “wait and see” but then was hospitalized for two months with severe COVID-19, according to ABC.
“If I could spare one person what I went through, then it was all worth it,” Palazzo said. “And then if they do get the shot, maybe they’ll tell a friend or a family member and maybe it can extend from there. I’m hoping and hoping.”
The poll found that vaccination status was largely determined by previous intent. For instance, 92% who said previously that they would get inoculated “as soon as possible” have gotten at least one dose of a COVID vaccine while 54% of people who said they wanted to “wait and see” have gotten at least one shot. Meanwhile, 76% of those who said they would “only get vaccinated if required” or “definitely not” get COVID shots still aren’t vaccinated.
Around a quarter of respondents who said they would get shots “as soon as possible” or were going to “wait and see” still aren’t vaccinated in the latest poll. One in ten said they will “only get vaccinated if required” or “definitely not” get vaccinated, with many saying they were worried about the side effects.
The poll found that among those who still aren’t vaccinated:
21% said they were worried about side effects.
16% said the “vaccine was too new, too unknown or not tested enough.”
12% said they didn’t think they needed the shots.
7% said they wanted to “wait and see.”
7% said they don’t normally get vaccines and don’t trust the shot.
7% have a medical condition that doesn’t let them get COVID shot.
7% said COVID isn’t as bad or that the vaccine is worse.
More than 184 million people in the U.S. have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, accounting for 55.6% of the population, as of July 14, according to the CDC. At least 159.6 million people are fully vaccinated.
