One in three Americans would NOT get COVID-19 vaccine – even if it was free, new Gallup poll found

The deadly coronavirus outbreak, which began in Wuhan, China in December 2019, has so far claimed more than 700,000 precious lives around the world including over 160,000 of those in the United States. There are now over 18 million confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide.
Yesterday, we wrote about Dr. Anthony Fauci after the nation’s top infectious disease expert said the new coronavirus vaccine could end up being only about 50% effective; chances of the vaccine being highly effective is ‘not great.’ Even before Dr. Fauci’s comments, millions of Americans are skeptical about the upcoming coronavirus vaccine.
The skepticism may be due to last of trust in government and other health-related organizations. For example, many Americans, especially Black Americans, are skeptical about the use of vaccine due to the dark past surrounding the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male. To make things worse, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates also advocated for reduction in the number of people on the planet “by, perhaps, 10 or 15 percent using new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services.”
A poll released on July 9 also found that only half of America’s population would be willing to get the COVID-19 vaccine if it were available. Another poll cited by the journal Science on June 30, found that just 50% of people in the U.S. are committed to receiving the vaccine, while a May CNN poll found 33% of Americans unwilling to get vaccinated against the disease.
Now, a new Gallup poll conducted between July 20-Aug. 2 found that more than a third of Americans say they would not get a COVID-19 vaccine right now, even if were free and FDA-approved. Many Americans appear reluctant to be vaccinated, even if a vaccine were FDA-approved and available to them at no cost. Asked if they would get such a COVID-19 vaccine, 65% say they would, but 35% would not, Gallop said.
Despite the fact that “some racial and ethnic minority groups are being disproportionately affected by COVID-19,” White Americans are more likely than non-White Americans to say they would get a vaccine if it was available, 67% to 59%.
According to Gallup, slight majority of non-White and rural Americans would get the vaccine.
While party affiliation likely explains many of the differences seen in willingness to be vaccinated, there are differences by race that defy the partisan patterns. White Americans are significantly more likely than non-White Americans to say they would be vaccinated if a free FDA-approved version were available — 67% vs. 59%, respectively. This is particularly noteworthy, given media reports on the pandemic noting that Black and Latino Americans have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19.