Majority of Americans now say they would get a COVID-19 vaccine, new poll says

A majority of Americans now would choose to get vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the latest Gallup poll.

There was an increase in the willingness to get a COVID-19 vaccine in the Gallup Panel survey conducted Oct. 19-Nov. 1, with 58% saying they would get vaccinated compared with 50% who said the same thing in September. The poll is based on responses from 2,985 adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The survey comes as Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna announced the effectiveness of their coronavirus vaccines. Pfizer said early results showed its vaccine is more than 90% effective, while Moderna said Monday that its vaccine’s efficacy is 94.5%, The New York Times reported.

The willingness to get a vaccine is also split along party lines:

• 69% of Democrats said they would get vaccinated
• 49% of Republicans and independents said the same

Democrats are more likely than Republicans and independents to say they’d get a vaccine, and Democrats have also shown the biggest increase in willingness. In the Gallup poll conducted Sept. 14-17, 53% of Democrats said they would get vaccinated.

The number of people who said they wouldn’t get a vaccine has gone down from 50% in September to 42%.

Men, younger people aged 18 to 44, white adults and people with a college degree were more likely to say they’d get a vaccine. Americans aged 45 to 64 had an uptick in willingness, with 49% of the age group now saying they would get one compared with 36% in September.

More than 11 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the U.S. and more than 248,000 people have died as of Nov. 17, according to Johns Hopkins University.

This story was originally published November 17, 2020 at 4:29 PM with the headline "Majority of Americans now say they would get a COVID-19 vaccine, new poll says."