US still divided over vaccines as pandemic spreads

The political divides in the US remain as large as ever, if not larger, over vaccines as the COVID-19 pandemic continues spreading, according to an article posted in the Washington Post on Aug 25.

With the first full FDA approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, many high-profile Republicans are still resisting. According to a recent study of how the residents of various countries view their coronavirus restrictions conducted by the Pew Research Center, the political split in the US was bigger than in any of the 10 other countries surveyed.

Fifty-two percent of the political right in the US said there shouldn't be so many restrictions on public activity during the pandemic, while only 7 percent on the left agreed, according to the article. The 45-point gap was more than twice that in any other country surveyed.

The findings are similar to those of another poll Pew conducted in 13 countries in the summer of 2020. The gap in views of supporters and opponents of the party in power was also larger in the US than anywhere else.

Similarly in January, there was a poll on vaccine hesitancy in 15 countries conducted by the World Economic Forum, asking whether people were willing to get vaccinated. The US, with 71 percent willing, ranked 10th out of 15.

However, this was at the beginning of vaccination efforts. Later in February, the US was the country ranked second for the number of people unwilling to get vaccinated, with a percentage of 33, less than that in France (42 percent). And last month, the percentage in France dropped to 30 percent while the number in the US was 29 percent, showing a narrowing gap.

Another study released last month in the journal Nature Medicine also indicated that the vaccine hesitancy in the US decreased slower (four points since April) than the average of other countries (12 points).

The support for the government's response to the pandemic increased in every other country, except the US, the newspaper reported.