John,
“The drugmaker Moderna announced on Monday that its coronavirus vaccine was 94.5 percent effective,” the New York Times reports, “joining Pfizer as a front-runner in the global race to contain a raging pandemic that has killed 1.2 million people worldwide.”
This is promising news. Though officials say that a COVID-19 vaccine still won’t be widely available to the public for several months, there may be enough for tens of millions of high risk people to receive doses sometime in December.
But online far-right groups are spreading conspiracy theories about the vaccine, which could prevent Americans from seeking out the vaccine once it is widely available. One absurd claim that spread on social media -- that Bill Gates wants to use COVID-19 vaccines to implant the public with microchips -- is particularly prevalent: 28 percent of Americans and 44 percent of Republicans believe it to be true, according to a recent YouGov poll.
With this dangerous theory and more floating around, we’re worried that the American people might be misled at the expense of their health. That’s why we’re reaching out to you today -- we want to get a sense of how you view the impending vaccine. Tell us now:
Will you take the coronavirus vaccine when it becomes available?
Thank you so much for taking our poll today.
