Posted on 03/09/2024 7:40:39 AM PST by DoodleBob
A new Pew Research Center survey finds that just 20% of Americans view the coronavirus as a major threat to the health of the U.S. population today and only 10% are very concerned they will get it and require hospitalization. This data represents a low ebb of public concern about the virus that reached its height in the summer and fall of 2020, when as many as two-thirds of Americans viewed COVID-19 as a major threat to public health.
Just 28% of U.S. adults say they have received the updated COVID-19 vaccine, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended last fall to protect against serious illness. This stands in stark contrast to the spring and summer of 2021, when long lines and limited availability characterized the initial rollout of the first COVID-19 vaccines. A majority of U.S. adults (69%) had been fully vaccinated by August 2021.
Underscoring the limited demand for the updated COVID-19 vaccines, a larger share of U.S. adults say they’ve gotten a flu shot in the last six months than the updated coronavirus vaccine (44% vs. 28%). And despite a public health push encouraging adults to get both vaccines at the same time, almost half of those who received a flu shot from a health care provider chose not to get the updated COVID-19 vaccine.
The vast majority of Americans have some level of protection from the coronavirus because of vaccination, prior infection or a combination of the two. This has led to a decline in severe illness from the disease.
Still, the virus continues to circulate widely in the United States, with wastewater data suggesting that cases in the early part of 2024 were among the highest they have been since the first omicron wave in 2022.
Long COVID ranks among the concerns of public health experts. Long COVID refers to a variety of symptoms such as fatigue and brain fog that last longer than a month after a COVID-19 infection.
The survey – conducted among 10,133 U.S. adults from Feb. 7 to 11, 2024 – finds that 50% of Americans say it is extremely or very important for medical researchers and health care providers to understand and treat long COVID; 27% see this as a less important issue and 22% of Americans say they haven’t heard of long COVID.
Partisanship remains one of the most powerful factors shaping views about COVID-19 vaccines and the virus. But the size and nature of differences between Republicans and Democrats have evolved since earlier stages of the outbreak.
For instance, the gap between the shares of Democrats and Republicans who view the coronavirus as a major threat to public health has fallen from 37 percentage points in May 2022 to 16 points today. In the pandemic’s first year, Democrats were routinely about 40 points more likely than Republicans to view the coronavirus as a major threat to the health of the U.S. population. This gap has waned as overall levels of concern have fallen.
When it comes to vaccination, Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents remain more likely than Republicans and GOP leaners to say they’ve received an updated COVID-19 vaccine (42% vs. 15%). This 27-point gap in recent vaccination is about the same as in January 2022 when 62% of Democrats and 33% of Republicans said they were up to date (i.e., fully vaccinated and recently boosted).
In addition to partisanship, age continues to matter a great deal in attitudes and behaviors tied to the coronavirus. And the intersection of partisanship and age reveals one of the biggest recent changes in the public’s response to the outbreak: a growing divergence between the oldest Republicans and oldest Democrats in vaccine uptake, which is explored below.
Older adults continue to be one of the most at-risk groups for severe illness and death from COVID-19.
When vaccines first became available in 2021, large majorities of both Republicans and Democrats ages 65 and older said they had received the vaccine. But as additional doses have become available, uptake among older Republicans has declined at a faster rate than among older Democrats.
In the current survey, 66% of Democrats ages 65 and older say they have received the updated COVID-19 vaccine, compared with 24% of Republicans ages 65 and older.
This 42-point partisan gap is much wider now than at other points since the start of the outbreak. For instance, in August 2021, 93% of older Democrats and 78% of older Republicans said they had received all the shots needed to be fully vaccinated (a 15-point gap). Go to the Appendix for more details.
The impact of age is also striking when looking within political parties.
Among Democrats, about three-in-ten adults under 50 have received an updated COVID-19 vaccine, compared with 48% of those ages 50 to 64 and 66% of Democrats ages 65 and older.
Age differences within the GOP run in the same direction, but are much more modest, reflecting, in part, low overall levels of vaccine uptake.
Similar shares of White (28%), Black (29%) and Hispanic (27%) adults say they have gotten the updated vaccine. English-speaking Asian adults (35%) are slightly more likely to report receiving the updated vaccine.
As in past Center surveys, there are racial and ethnic differences in vaccine uptake among Democrats.
For instance, 50% of White Democrats and 42% of English-speaking Asian Democrats report having received the updated vaccine, compared with somewhat smaller shares of Black and Hispanic Democrats (32% each).
Half of Americans say it is extremely or very important for medical researchers and health care providers to understand and treat long COVID, considering all the different priorities they face.
About two-in-ten (21%) say it’s somewhat important for those in medicine to address long COVID, while 6% say it is not too or not at all important. Another 22% say they haven’t heard of long COVID.
More Democrats (61%) than Republicans (37%) say it is extremely or very important for medical researchers and health care providers to understand and treat long COVID.
A majority of women (56%) consider this extremely or very important; a smaller share of men (44%) say the same. The CDC has reported that women are more likely than men to develop long COVID symptoms.
Awareness of long COVID also shapes views on its importance: Those who have heard a lot about long COVID are more likely than those who have heard a little about it to say it’s extremely or very important for medical professional to address it (76% vs. 60%).
One-in-five Americans now say the coronavirus is a major threat to the health of the U.S. population, down from a high of 67% in July 2020.
Concern about the coronavirus as a major threat to the U.S. economy has also declined dramatically. Today, 23% of Americans say it’s a major threat to the economy, compared with 88% in May 2020. The pandemic spurred an economic recession in 2020 and a spike in unemployment that reached the highest levels since the Great Recession.
Federal policy on the coronavirus has changed as public concern – and the incidence of severe illness – has fallen. The Biden administration ended the public health emergency for the coronavirus pandemic in May 2023. And the CDC recently released updated guidelines with shorter isolation periods for adults testing positive for the disease.
While large partisan gaps characterized views of the coronavirus as a major threat to public health for much of the pandemic, those gaps were far smaller on views of the virus as a major threat to the economy. In the current survey, just a 6-point gap separates Republicans and Democrats with this view (20% vs. 26%, respectively) – similar to the 9-point party gap seen in May 2022.
About a quarter of Americans (27%) are very or somewhat concerned about getting a serious case of COVID-19 that would require hospitalization. A somewhat higher share (40%) say they are very or somewhat concerned they might spread the coronavirus to other people without knowing it.
Levels of concern for getting or spreading the coronavirus are about the same as they were in March 2023 and remain down dramatically from early in the pandemic.
The share of Americans who are very or somewhat concerned about getting a serious case is 26 points lower than in November 2020, before a COVID-19 vaccine was available to the public. And the share of Americans who are at least somewhat concerned about spreading COVID-19 without knowing it is down 24 points since November 2020.
Still, the current data shows how the virus remains a concern in daily life for many Americans, more than four years after the first confirmed coronavirus cases appeared in the U.S.
Consistent with past Center surveys, there are demographic and political differences in personal concern about getting a serious case of COVID-19 and unknowingly spreading the virus:
Some of the groups most personally concerned about getting a severe case of COVID-19 are also among the groups most concerned about the public health threat from the coronavirus. For example, Black adults and adults with lower incomes express more concern about the personal health and public health impact of the coronavirus than White adults and those with upper incomes.
The survey finds 44% of U.S. adults say they have gotten a flu shot since August. This share is down slightly from last March, when 49% of Americans said they had recently gotten a flu shot.
Uptake varies by the following factors:
The flu shot and updated COVID-19 vaccines are both recommended to protect against severe illness, but Americans approach these vaccines differently.
Americans are more likely to report that they received a flu shot than the updated COVID-19 vaccine this year (44% vs. 28%).
This gap in uptake between the flu shot and updated COVID-19 vaccine is more pronounced among Republicans than Democrats.
Republicans are more than twice as likely to say they’ve gotten a flu shot since August as to say they’ve received an updated COVID-19 vaccine (37% vs. 15%). Among Democrats, this difference is more modest (53% vs. 42%).
Proudly UN-jabbed, and will remain so. Woe to he who tries to jab me.
One thing this covid hoax has done is make me suspicious of all vaccines, I’m over 65 and will probably never get another vaccine in my lifetime. Of course I was thoroughly vaccinated courtesy of the US Army.
I wonder how the level of fear relates to the news consumed.
I’m stunned at how many people here in MASKachusetts are still wearing masks, it’s unbelievable to me and how many of them are “Karens” who freak out if you get within 20 feet of them.
Fake news. Trump stood before Iowans and spoke of the billions saved worldwide by his authorization of operation warp speed
He won. Freedom from the pharma CIA military complex lost.
If you doubt that.. ask yourself honestly if you would’ve masked, locked down and taken a genetic vax under Obama or Biden.
Thank you for your service.
Huh?
This is a poll.
never worried about covid at all. only the clotshot.
IF the news consumed was food it would be mostly empty calories.
The people I know who supposedly call their illness “long covid” were vaxed.
I am repulsed by those running around in masks and getting all skittish.
They were the easily brainwashed. Not all of them are old people as some think. I see more young people.
20% of the population supports the extermination of the other 80% of the Earth population..who are not frothing leftards.
Well,and the handful of people who partially flipped out cause I got within 10 feet of them.
Many valid points.
Democrats, Jiberals, Covid cloth mask Karens are still brainwashed into believing that their leaders have their best interests at heart. They feel that the disease response was good and appropriate and disregard anything that contradicts their Beliefs in THe Science, which is more correctly described as The Propaganda, They have a legitimate fear of death, primarily because they fear an unknown afterlife. “Doing good” alone doesn’t get anyone to Heaven. Most will purport to “believe in God” but truly many are just humanists and not Christian. Sidenote, it’s how they rationalize abortion not being killing.
FYI,, married to a cloth masked Karen liberal, i foolishly got an original Moderna mRNA injection series, and stopped taking weekly ivermectin, within six weeks got a short version of Covid the first time, treated with ivermectin until thought i was over it, stopped, got Covid a second time within six months, more long standing and chronic, and while ivermectin aided in lessening the severity, i progressed to long Covid lung , cardiac, and vascular issues to this day close to three years later. I have had some other chronic issues showing up, that i understand may be more related to mRNA injection than actual vaccine disease. I have worked virtually every day of my adult life.
I did not realize how evil those in government are, until it becomes so obvious that it can’t be ignored.
I have Grace and Redemption. My time will come when it’s time.
Add: i had only two Moderna injections one moth apart, and my health has been in decline from two weeks (first reaction) after the series .
Even the most thick skulled dullard should realize after Big Pharma’s mouthpiece, the CDC, announced a couple of weeks ago that Covid was just the flu, the vaxx was only part of the scamdemic.
Over three years, and using government numbers only, the actual mortality rate is less than one tenth of one percent.
This was a media event, a media-induced hysteria and a media-driven attack on all who would question the whole "narrative."
It’s been the Greatest Hoax ever perpetrated on Humanity....
.
Until the Next one.
One Tenth of One Percent....
.
Wow-— I believe it.
No problem. Easier to read.
Thanks for posting this.
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