Reasons for not intending to get the COVID-19 vaccine among adults U.S. 2020

In December 2020, around 30 percent of U.S. adults aged 18 and older who reported they did not intend to get vaccinated against COVID-19 said this was due to concerns about its side effects and safety. This statistic shows the percentage of U.S. adults who stated they are not likely to get a COVID-19 vaccination who gave select reasons for their decision as of December 2020.

Percentage of U.S. adults who stated they are not likely to get a COVID-19 vaccination who gave select reasons for their decision as of December 2020*

Characteristic	Percentage of respondents
Concern about the side effects and safety of the vaccine	29.8%
Plan to wait and see if it is safe and may get it later	14.5%
Don’t trust the government	12.5%
Concern that the vaccine is being developed too quickly	10.4%
Don’t like vaccines	5.4%
Plan to use masks/other precautions instead	3.7%
Not a member of any group that is at high risk for COVID-19	3.5%
Don’t like needles	3%
The vaccine could give me COVID-19	2.3%
Had COVID-19 and should be immune	2.2%
COVID-19 is not a serious illness	1.9%
Didn’t know I needed a vaccine against COVID-19	0.4%
Concern about the costs associated with the vaccine (such as office visit costs or vaccine administration fees)	0.2%
The vaccine will not work	0%
Doctor has not recommended a COVID-19 vaccine to me	0%

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Release date

February 2021

More information

Region

United States

Survey time period

December 18 to 20, 2020

Number of respondents

2,033 respondents

Age group

18 years and older

Method of interview

Online survey

Supplementary notes

* This statistic represents the average of two surveys from IPSOS and NORC. IPSOS KnowledgePanel Omnibus Survey was fielded December 18–20 among 1,005 adults. NORC AmeriSpeak Omnibus Survey was fielded December 18–20 among 1,028 adults.

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