Just 51% of Americans Will Take First Generation COVID-19 Vaccine | Eastern North Carolina Now

Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the The Daily Wire. The author of this post is Joseph Curl.

    Just slightly more than half of Americans plan to take a COVID-19 vaccine immediately after one becomes available, according to a new poll.

    Fifty-one percent of those surveyed in new polling by Ipsos released Tuesday said they would rush out to take a first-generation vaccine. While the number is low, it's up 6 points from the previous week and a 14-point increase from late September.

    Americans are also optimistic that a vaccine will be developed and approved soon.

    "Perhaps signaling that a vaccine is now more tangible and less aspirational, nearly half (47%) believe the vaccine will be ready within the next three months, up 15 percentage points from just one week ago," the poll found.

    In another finding, some 70% said they would get a vaccine if it draws the endorsement of public health officials. "Among some groups who are less likely to get a vaccine, namely Black Americans and Republicans, majorities report they would get a vaccine backed by public health officials," the pollsters wrote.

    Pollsters surveyed 1,002 adults from Nov. 20-23 and the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3% to 3.4%.

    There are currently three vaccines in the late stages of development.

    AstraZeneca and Oxford University on Monday said their jointly created COVID-19 vaccine has proven to be up to 90% effective and easier to distribute than another potential vaccine, which must be kept at sub-zero temperatures.

    "These findings show that we have an effective vaccine that will save many lives," said Oxford University professor Andrew Pollard, who served as the lead investigator for the drug's trials. "Because the vaccine can be stored at fridge temperatures, it can be distributed around the world using the normal immunization distribution system. And so our goal ... to make sure that we have a vaccine that was accessible everywhere, I think we've actually managed to do that."

    A new Moderna vaccine that was developed in conjunction with the Trump administration's Operation Warp Speed is nearly 95% effective, the company announced last week.

    "The analysis evaluated 95 confirmed Covid-19 infections among the trial's 30,000 participants," CNBC reported earlier this month. "Moderna, which developed its vaccine in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said 90 cases of Covid-19 were observed in the placebo group versus 5 cases observed in the group that received its two-dose vaccine. That resulted in an estimated vaccine efficacy of 94.5%."

    And the pharmaceutical company Pfizer said on Nov. 9 that its developmental vaccine for COVID-19 may be 90% effective at inoculating people against the disease. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said at the time that once their vaccine is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it will be shipped quickly to locations in the U.S.

    But CNBC penned a story on Monday headline: "Doctors say CDC should warn people the side effects from Covid vaccine shots won't be 'a walk in the park.'"

    "Participants in Moderna and Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine trials told CNBC in September that they were experiencing high fever, body aches, bad headaches, daylong exhaustion and other symptoms after receiving the shots," the network reported. "While the symptoms were uncomfortable, and at times intense, the participants said they often went away after a day, sometimes sooner, and that it was better than getting Covid-19."