Six-in-ten Americans say they will probably not get an updated 2024-25 COVID-19 vaccine, according to an October Pew Research Center survey. Smaller shares say they probably will get an updated vaccine (24%) or have already received one (15%).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended the updated vaccine to everyone ages 6 months and older ahead of the fall and winter months to help protect from severe disease and hospitalization.
Views of the updated vaccine are sharply divided across partisan lines, with Democrats and those who lean to the Democratic Party being more likely than Republicans and Republican leaners to say they will get the vaccine. The partisan divide is particularly large among adults ages 65 and older – one of the groups most at risk for severe illness.
Pre pandemic flu vaccine coverage was at just over 48% for adults and 63% for kids under 18. Since this study is all adults the results aren’t terribly unheard of, though it hilights a trend where even flu vaccine coverage rate has lowered since then.
I wonder if COVID vaccines seemingly having worse side effects than flu vaccines is contributing to the lower rate. Or people don’t understand that you have to keep getting COVID boosters. Or anti-vaccine propaganda
