There is a significant gender gap among those who report they are likely to take the coronavirus vaccine when it becomes available, a national poll found.
The survey, released on Thursday by Morning Consult and National Geographic, showed that women were significantly less likely to say they would take it than men.
Among the 2,201 people polled between Nov. 20-23, 43% of men said they were very likely to take the vaccine, and 26% said they were somewhat likely to take it. Within the same group, only 30% of women said they were very likely to take it, and 21% said they were somewhat likely to take it. The poll’s margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Those results looked similar to the results of a Pew Research survey from Thursday. Sixty-seven percent of men said they would definitely or probably take the vaccine. Only 54% of women said they definitely or probably would.
Eric Columbus, a former Obama administration official, pointed out that the vaccine gender gap does not align with the partisan gender gap. Polls consistently show that women are more likely to be Democrats than Republicans, but Democrats have rated themselves as more likely to get the vaccine than their Republican counterparts have.
In the Pew Research survey, 69% of Democrats said they would definitely or probably get the vaccine. Just 50% of Republicans said the same.
Other factors likely to influence feelings about the vaccine included age and education level.
Each age group was more likely than its younger counterparts to say it was very likely or somewhat likely to take the vaccine. Fifty-four percent of those aged 18 to 34 rated themselves as likely to do so. Contrast that with 68% of those aged 65 or older.
Eighty-three percent of those polled who had post-graduate degrees said they were likely to take it, compared with 74% who had only a bachelor’s degree and 52% of those who did not complete college.
Overall, 61% said they were either very or somewhat likely to take advantage of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The vaccine might begin distribution in the United States this month as several candidates approach the ending stages of the approval process. Experts, however, believe it could take several months for it to be widely distributed. Until then, many are trying to find ways to encourage confidence in the vaccine approval process.
Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton have all signaled their willingness to receive the vaccine publicly to raise public trust.
