Majority Americans sceptical about potential Covid-19 vaccine: Poll

Washington, Sep 8 (IANS) A new poll has revealed that a majority of Americans were sceptical about getting a Covid-19 vaccine once it becomes available.

According to the CBS News poll, about 58 per cent said that they would consider it but wait to see what happens to others before getting one, down from 51 per cent in late July, reports Xinhua news agency.

Just 21 per cent of the surveyed said they would get a vaccine as soon as possible if one becomes available at no cost, down from 32 per cent.

However, about 21 per cent said they would never get vaccine, up from 17 per cent two months ago.

About two-thirds of the surveyed think if a vaccine was announced as soon as this year, their initial thought would be that it was rushed through without enough testing, rather than a scientific achievement that happened quickly.

In the letter to Governors and health departments on August 27, Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Robert Redfield asked states to be ready to distribute a potential coronavirus vaccine by November 1.

Several vaccines have already begun phase 3 clinical trials in the US, including vaccine candidate AZD1222, co-invented by the University of Oxford and its spin-out company Vaccitech, vaccine candidate mRNA-1273, developed by the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and American biotechnology company Moderna, and vaccine candidate BNT162b2, developed by American biopharmaceutical company Pfizer and German company BioNTech.

The US continues to be the worst-hit country in the world by the coronavirus pandemic.

As of Tuesday, the number of cases increased to 6,300,431, while the death toll stood at 189,206, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

–IANS

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