BY SEYIFUNMI LUMEKO
No fewer than 44 per cent of the United States Republican Party members have vowed never to get vaccinated for the coronavirus that has killed many Americans.
This is just as 78 per cent of Democrats say they have gotten vaccinated or will get vaccinated versus just 47 per cent of Republicans — a 31-point chasm.
Meanwhile, among Republicans who haven’t been vaccinated yet, a plurality (44 per cent) say they will “never” go through with it.
It was gathered that most Democrats and independents who were unsure about vaccination back in November now favour it.
According to Yahoo News over the past few months, all of the available data from clinical trials and real-world studies shows the approved COVID-19 vaccines are safe and extremely effective.
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Experts have emphasized again and again that inoculation represents America’s only way out of the pandemic.
According to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll, most Americans have absorbed this message and become more likely to say they will get vaccinated since the vaccine rollout began in the wake of last year’s presidential election.
Today, 60 per cent of registered voters say they’ve either been vaccinated or plan to get vaccinated, up from the 45 per cent who said on Nov. 1 of last year that they planned to roll up their sleeves.
Yet in a troubling sign of polarization with echoes of the partisan divide over masks, the survey of 1,556 U.S. adults also found stubborn resistance to vaccination among one group in particular: Republicans.
Last November, before any vaccines had been approved, the gap between Democrats who said they planned to get vaccinated (51 per cent) and Republicans who said the same (43 per cent) was relatively small. Not anymore. Now, a full 78 per cent of Democrats say they have gotten vaccinated or will get vaccinated versus just 47 per cent of Republicans — a 31-point chasm.
