Survey: Plurality of Americans Not Worried About Contracting Coronavirus

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

A plurality of Americans is not worried about coming down with the Chinese coronavirus, according to a survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The survey asked respondents how worried they are about either themselves or a family member being infected with the coronavirus.

A plurality, 45 percent, indicated they are either not “too worried” or not at all worried about becoming infected. Of those, 29 percent said “not too” worried and 16 percent said “not at all” worried.

Just over a quarter of respondents, 27 percent, said they are worried to some degree. Of those, 14 percent said they are “extremely” worried, and 13 percent said “very” worried. Those figures reflect a dramatic flip from concerns one year ago. In July 2020, 49 percent indicated they were worried about contracting the virus. That percentage fell to an all-time low of 21 percent in June 2021.

Additionally, the survey found nearly one-third of Americans, 30 percent, expressing a lack of confidence in the efficacy of the vaccine against the delta variant.

The survey, taken July 15-19, 2021, among 1,308 adults, has a margin of error of +/- 3.7 percent.

The news comes as the Biden White House and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) attempt to ramp up efforts to coerce the remainder of unvaccinated Americans to get the jab.

An internal CDC memo obtained by the Washington Post this week revealed the federal health agency sounding the alarm, calling for more forceful rhetoric.

As Breitbart News reported:

The internal document, which the Washington Post obtained, reportedly shows the health agency confessing a need to “revamp its public messaging” to coerce Americans to get vaccinated, touting it as the “best defense against a variant so contagious that it acts almost like a different novel virus.”

Per the memo, the CDC is concerned by the line it must walk, because pushing mass vaccinations is the top priority of federal health officials. At the same time, however, it admits the vaccines are not foolproof and estimates roughly 35,000 symptomatic infections per week among vaccinated Americans.

Public skepticism, the federal agency continues, is an issue — particularly the narrative that “vaccines no longer work.” Part of the CDC’s mission now, it appears, is moving the goalposts and ultimately, its definition of success.

In recent days, both President Biden and CDC director Rochelle Walensky have blamed unvaccinated Americans for the federal agency’s decision to reinstate mask guidance.

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