Would You Want To Get A Coronavirus Vaccine? Only Half Of Americans Say 'Yes'

(CBS4) - If a vaccine to prevent Coronavirus becomes available by the end to the year, would you hurry to get in line to roll up your sleeve?  How about if it became available by next week, I mean, with all of the quarantines, stay-at-home orders, and business shutdowns… would you hurry to get immunized?

It seems for many Americans the answer is "Ah…. maybe."

A survey out this week shows about half of Americans plan to get a vaccine when it becomes available while the other half either give a flat-out no, or are simply not sure.

Here's the breakdown:

Yes-       49%

No-        20%

Unsure-31%

As for those who say yes, the main reasons are to protect their health, and get life back to normal.

For those who say no, many don't think it's necessary or that COVID is no more serious than influenza.

As for the "maybes," there is a big worry over whether the vaccine will work, or whether it might not be safe since there has been such a rush to development.

Then there are the age groupings:

Ages 18-59—40% yes, 23% no, 35% unsure.

Ages 60 and older- 67% yes, 12% no, 21% unsure.

Race and ethnicity showed an even wider spread:

White: 56% yes, 16% no, 27% unsure.

Black: 25% yes, 40% no, 37% unsure.

Hispanic: 37% yes, 23% no, 37% unsure.

Finally comes the confidence that a vaccine will be ready by December/January: only 20% think that's going to happen.

Others tend to think "sometime" in 2021- 61%

Even other were pessimistic a vaccine would be even ready to go by 2022- 17%

There are a lot of questions and concerns about the ability of the government to deliver on its promise of "millions of vaccines" ready by the first of the year.  It is, after all, a sprint to make vaccine that not only works, but is safe to use. Lots of question without solid answers at this point.

In closing, you may also want to consider this when you look at the numbers for those who would get the coronavirus vaccine: last year only 47% of Americans got a flu shot.

For more info, go to apnorc.org.