Most Americans Worry Trump Will Rush Out Unsafe Coronavirus Vaccine — Including BIG Chunk of Republicans

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Nearly two-thirds of Americans — and even a significant chunk of Republicans — worry that political pressure from the Trump administration may result in the approval of an unsafe coronavirus vaccine, in a poll taken before the latest revelations about President Donald Trump’s dishonesty about the pandemic.

Respondents to the latest Kaiser Family Foundation poll, were asked: “How worried are you, if at all, that the U.S. FDA will rush to approve a coronavirus vaccine without making sure that it is safe and effective due to political pressure from the Trump Administration?”

The choices were: Very worried, Somewhat worried, Not too worried, and Not at all worried.

A full 62 percent of Americans said they were either very or somewhat worried, versus 36 percent who said they were not too worried or not worried at all.

By partisan identification, 86 percent of Democrats, 61 percent of independents, and even 35 percent of Republicans said they were worried about political pressure producing an unsafe vaccine.

Kaiser Health Tracking Poll

Other key coronavirus findings from the poll include:

• Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a notice to states to start preparing to distribute a coronavirus vaccine by November 1st, 2 days before the 2020 election. Most adults (81%), including majorities across partisans, do not think a vaccine for coronavirus will be widely available in the U.S. before the presidential election in November.
• The latest KFF Health Tracking Poll finds a shift in the public’s attitudes on the coronavirus outbreak. More than six months into the pandemic, about four in ten (38%) now say “the worst is yet to come” (down nearly half from 74% in early April), while an equal 38% say “the worst is behind us” (up from 13% in April).
• Nearly half of adults hold at least one misconception about coronavirus prevention and treatment, including one in five who say wearing a face mask is harmful to your health and one in four who say hydroxychloroquine is an effective treatment for coronavirus. Three in four Republicans have at least one misconception, compared to 46% of independents and one in four Democrats. At the same time, trust in some official sources of information on coronavirus has declined since April, including a particularly steep drop in Republicans’ trust of Dr. Anthony Fauci and the CDC.

This poll was completed before the tapes of conversations between Trump and journalist Bob Woodward — in which Trump acknowledges the deadliness of the pandemic yet admits to downplaying the threat — were released.

It also follows consistent polling showing Americans skeptical of a rushed vaccine.