Americans criticize vaccine rollout as too slow— CBS News poll

Most Americans are not satisfied with the coronavirus vaccine distribution in their state, with a majority saying it is going too slowly and feeling that the process of how to go about getting a vaccine hasn’t been well-explained yet. This comes as more people are now interested in getting vaccinated, with those most eager to get one more critical of the speed of its rollout.

With a coronavirus vaccine now available, more Americans say they would like to get one as soon possible than said so last summer. Forty-one percent say they would get a vaccine as soon as possible should one become available to them at no cost or have gotten one already. That’s up from 30% last July in the early months of the pandemic when we asked people if they would get a vaccine should it become available in 2020.  

Interest in receiving a vaccine has increased across most demographic groups, but many Americans are still hesitant. A sizable percentage — 37% — would consider getting a vaccine but want to wait and see what happens to others first, while more than one in five say they would never get one.

As we’ve seen throughout the pandemic, Democrats have been more concerned than Republicans about getting the virus, and they are twice as likely as Republicans to say they would get the vaccine as soon as they could.

We also find differences by race. People of color are more concerned than White people about getting the virus, but are also more skeptical about getting the vaccine. More prefer to wait and see what happens to others than say they would get one right away.

The 28% of Black Americans who say they would get a vaccine as soon as possible is matched by the percentage who say they would never get one.

While they are critical of the vaccine rollout now, just over half of Americans express some optimism that if they decided to get vaccinated, they think that will be able to happen by this summer.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines recommend older people get vaccinated ahead of most of those who are younger. And our poll finds seniors — those ages 65 and over — are the most eager age group to want a vaccine. Seven in 10 of them expect to be vaccinated by the summer.

This CBS News survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 2,166 U.S. residents interviewed between January 13-16, 2021. This sample was weighted according to gender, age, race and education based on the American Community Survey, conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, as well as the 2020 presidential vote and registration status. The margin of error is ±2.5 points.

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CBS News Poll – January 13–15, 2021