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A new poll conducted by Yahoo News and YouGov has painted an alarming picture of vaccine hesitancy across the United States. The poll, released Tuesday, found that 37% of unvaccinated respondents believe that Covid-19 vaccines pose a greater health risk than Covid-19 itself. Another 29% said that contracting Covid was riskier than getting vaccinated, while 35% said they were unsure.
This Yahoo News/YouGov poll reached 1,715 adults in the United States between July 13th and July 15th. These findings are concerning as the delta variant of Covid-19 is seemingly intensifying across the U.S. As 97% of new hospitalizations are patients who are unvaccinated, officials around the country are urging those who have not been vaccinated, to indeed get vaccinated to prevent further spread of the virus and to also prevent further mandates/shutdowns.
The U.S. Census Bureau also released data this past Wednesday, echoing vaccine hesitancy across the United States. According to the data released by the bureau, 50.6% of respondents are concerned about the side effects of the vaccine, while 47.6% say they have a lack of trust in the Covid-19 vaccines. Comparably, the Yahoo News and YouGov poll found that 45% of unvaccinated respondents do not trust the vaccine, while 12% said they were not worried about contracting Covid-19.
Wyoming, West Virginia, North Dakota, and Alaska are the populations that have the most vaccine hesitancy, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The findings from both polls are interesting and shed light on the high number of vaccine hesitancy across the nation, despite scientific findings that show the safety of the vaccines is "remarkable".