Poll finds increasing number of Americans, including Black people, would take COVID vaccine

Poll finds increasing number of Americans, including Black people, Americans are increasingly willing to take a COVID-19 vaccine, especially Black and Hispanic Americans, according to a new poll released Tues Jessie Hellmann TheHill

Americans are increasingly willing to take a COVID-19 vaccine, especially Black and Hispanic Americans, according to a new poll released Tuesday. 

The Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 71 percent of Americans are willing to take a free and safe COVID-19 vaccine, an increase of eight percent from three months ago. 

The increases are the most dramatic among Black adults: 62 percent of those polled in December said they would be willing to take a free and safe vaccine, compared to 50 percent three months ago. 

Officials had worried about convincing people to get vaccinated, especially people from communities of color who have been exploited by the public health system in the past, and who still face worse health outcomes compared to white people, partly due to unequal access to care and racism.

Public health officials have worked in recent months to assuage those concerns ahead of the expected authorization of a COVID-19 vaccine.

The poll, which was conducted from Nov. 30 to Dec. 8, indicates some of those efforts have been successful, not just among people of color but across all segments of society.

But the poll found a partisan gap in willingness to take a vaccine: 86 percent of Democrats said in December they would take the vaccine, compared to 77 percent three months ago.

Only 56 percent of Republicans said the same in December, compared to 47 percent in September. ...