Trump Says Coronavirus Vaccine Will Be Developed by End of Year But Only 20 Percent of Americans Think It Will Happen
President Donald Trump recently suggested that a coronavirus vaccine will be developed by the end of the year, but a new poll shows that only 20 percent of Americans believe this will happen.
The poll, which was conducted by the Associated Press/NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, surveyed 1,506 U.S. adults from May 14-18. The poll has a margin of error of 4.2 percentage points.
According to the poll, only 2 in 10 Americans believe a vaccine will be available by the end of 2020, while 61 percent said at some point in 2021 and 17 percent said 2022 or later.
The poll's findings come shortly after Trump spoke about his administration's efforts to quickly develop a vaccine, which he referred to as "Operation Warp Speed."
"Another essential pillar of our strategy to keep America open is the development of effective treatments and vaccines as quickly as possible. I want to see if we can do that very quickly," Trump said on May 15. "When I say 'quickly,' we're looking to get it by the end of the year if we can. Maybe before."
The White House did not immediately respond to a comment request from Newsweek in regard to the poll's findings.
In addition, the poll found that only 49 percent said they plan to get vaccinated when possible, while 20 percent said they don't plan on it and 31 percent said they weren't sure. Among political party lines, the poll found that Democrats were more likely to plan on getting inoculated, with 62 percent, compared to 43 percent of Republicans and 31 percent of Independents.
The poll also offered several reasons for respondents to choose as to why they would not get the vaccine. Those participating were allowed to choose all that applied to their personal feelings on the matter with 70 percent saying they would be concerned about the side effects of the vaccine.
Forty-two percent said they would be concerned about getting infected with COVID-19, while 31 percent said they weren't concerned about getting seriously ill from the virus. Thirty percent said they don't think vaccines work very well and 24 percent said they don't think the outbreak is as serious "as some people say it is."
Among those that say they plan on getting vaccinated, the poll found that 93 percent said they wanted to protect themselves, 88 percent said they wanted to protect their family, 82 percent said it would be the best way to avoid getting seriously ill and 81 percent said it would allow them to feel safe around others.
Another poll recently conducted by Yahoo News/YouGov, found similar results just a week prior.
In the poll, 50 percent of respondents said they plan to get vaccinated for the virus, "if and when a coronavirus vaccine becomes available," while 23 percent said they don't plan on it and 27 percent said they weren't sure.
Both of the poll's findings come shortly after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said that it was teaming up with AstraZeneca, the popular pharmaceutical company, to produce at least 300 million doses of AZD1222, a potential coronavirus vaccine.
"Getting a vaccine to the American public as soon as possible is one part of President [Donald] Trump's multi-faceted strategy for safely reopening our country and bringing life back to normal, which is essential to Americans' physical and mental well-being in so many ways," HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in a recent statement.
Newsweek reached out to HHS for comment on the poll results but did not receive a response in time for publication.
The new coronavirus, which causes the respiratory disease COVID-19, has infected over 1.6 million people across the U.S., and killed at least 98,933, according to a tracker provided by Johns Hopkins University.
