Americans' willingness to take COVID-19 vaccine plunges 11 points to 50pc

Washington [US], October 14 (ANI/Sputnik): Acceptance of a COVID-19 vaccine by US adults plunged by 11 percentage points in late September from a month earlier, with half of those surveyed saying they would refuse to be vaccinated, a Gallup poll revealed on Tuesday.
Partisanship possibly triggered by President Donald Trump's announcement that a vaccine could be ready in October likely explained a shift in confidence that a vaccine will be safe, Gallup said in a press release explaining the poll.
"After two months of Democrats being more likely than Republicans to say they would be vaccinated, about half of all political party groups now say they would get the vaccine. This marks a new low among Democrats and independents, while Republicans' interest in getting the vaccine has returned to the levels recorded in July, up from their low point in late August," the release said.
Currently, 53% of Democrats said they would take a vaccine, down from 78 percent a month earlier. That compares with 49 percent of Republicans willing to be vaccinated, up from 37 percent a month earlier. Among independent voters, 49 percent would now decline a vaccine, down from 57 percent, the release added.
"It appears some Americans have lost confidence in the safety of the approval process for the vaccine, and are not merely answering as if a vaccine were literally available right now," the release said
Polls since early August have consistently found young adults to be more willing than than middle-aged and older adults to be vaccinated, according to Gallup. (ANI/Sputnik)