Here's some highlights.
Vaccine hesitancy continues to decline as more people get the vaccine. I'm pretty optimistic that most people are going to get the vaccine. However there might be large geographic differences in vaccine uptake. It is a bit concerning how the vaccine hesitancy among Republicans and white Evangelicals remains high and unchanged.
62% of people are now either vaccinated or will be as soon as possible. 17% are wait and see, 5% lower than the previous month. Only 20% are not going to get vaccinated.
The biggest change is among Black Americans. 55% of Black Americans have gotten the vaccine or will ASAP. 24% are wait and see, a 10% decline from a month ago. Only 17% of Black Americans are not going to get vaccinated.
Republicans remain the biggest group for vaccine hesitancy. Only 46% of Republicans have already gotten the vaccine or will ASAP. 35% of Republicans are not going to get vaccinated. Roughly unchanged from a month ago.
White Evangelical Christians are another large group for vaccine hesitancy. Only 49% of White Evangelicals have already gotten the vaccine or will ASAP. 34% of White Evangelicals are not going to get vaccinated.
The groups with the lowest vaccine hesitancy are 65+, Democrats, and college graduates. 81%, 79%, and 73% respectively have already gotten the vaccine or plan to ASAP. There are very large partisan and education gaps on vaccine hesitancy.
The main concerns of the vaccine hesitant are over vaccine side effects and beliefs that the vaccines are riskier than the virus. Many believe the vaccines are too new with not enough long term data.
Among those that are wait and see or would get the vaccine only if required, if airlines required the vaccine half would get the vaccine. Half would also get the vaccine if it allowed them to freely travel and not wear masks.
Vaccine requirements might have the largest effect on 18-29 year olds' vaccine uptake. 15% of this group will get the vaccine only if required. In addition 11% of essential workers will get it only if required.
Employer incentives would help about a third of the wait and see get vaccinated.
The best vaccine messaging is to emphasize the vaccine effectiveness, that the vaccine technology is decades old, that the trials enrolled diverse populations, the vast majority of doctors have taken the vaccine, that the vaccines are free, and that the risks of the virus are worse than the vaccine.
Interestingly, the J&J vaccine is preferred more compared to the other vaccines among the wait and see group. The main reason being the fact that it is one dose vs two.