Pew poll says nearly 70% of Americans say they’ll get the COVID-19 vaccine

According to a new poll from the Pew Research Center, nearly 70% of Americans say they plan to get the COVID-19 vaccine. 

An increasing percentage of Americans — 69% — say they’ve gotten or plan to get the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center.

The numbers are slightly lower than last May when 72% of Americans said they definitely or probably would get the vaccine but are significantly higher than when plans to get the vaccine dropped to 52% in September.

The Pew poll found that 19% of adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine, 32% say they will definitely get the vaccine and 17% say they will probably get it.

Thirty percent of adults said they probably or definitely will not get the vaccine, according to the Pew poll.

A majority of Black Americans, 61%, now say they have received or plan to get the COVID-19 vaccine and more Democrats than Republicans say they plan to get it.

Overall, Americans are also more optimistic about the state of the pandemic, an increase to 60% compared to a dramatic decline during fall and winter last year, according to a poll by Gallup.

As Americans appear more optimistic after the post-holiday surge in cases, they also support lifting restrictions put in place to limit the spread of virus.

Some states, including Texas and Mississippi, have recently announced plans to reopen.

Around the country, 31% of Americans say there should be fewer restrictions in place at this point in the pandemic, according to the Pew poll, while 41% say restrictions should stay the same and 25% support more steps to control the virus.

Pew notes 56% of Republicans say there should be fewer restrictions in place compared to 10% of Democrats.