Almost 85% of unvaccinated Americans say they don’t plan to get the shots

A vast majority of unvaccinated Americans say they do not plan on getting COVID-19 shots, a new poll finds.

The survey, conducted by CNBC/Change Research, asked 1,775 Americans how they felt about the vaccines.

Of the respondents, 29 percent had not been vaccinated, and 83 percent of that group said that they never plan to receive the jabs. 

There are not many things that could convince this segment of the population either with 84 percent saying even if the vaccines had no side effects they would not get the shots, and 87 percent would not get jabbed if they were mandated to do so by their employer.

Respondents to the poll offered different reasons as to why they were yet to be vaccinated.

Just over one-third, 34 percent, of unvaccinated respondents said they refuse the shots because they do not trust the government.

The same amount of survey takers also said they fear side effects from the vaccine.

Some just are not worried about the virus, with ten percent reporting that they would get jabbed if the Delta variant was more prominent in their community.

The Delta variant ravaged many unvaccinated communities across the country in recent months, and cases increased eight-fold during the month of July as the mutant strain took hold.

Seven percent are still awaiting direction from former President Donald Trump, saying they would only get vaccinated if he asked them to.

President Trump has been a vocal supporter of the vaccine – even to the chagrin of some of his loyal supporters – and has used his post-presidency rallies to promote them to his followers.

Despite his vocal support for the jabs, Trump supporters are the group least likely to want the vaccines.

The CNBC poll finds that 87 percent of participants who voted for Trump in the 2020 presidential election are unvaccinated, and 60 percent of Republicans.

By comparison, 49 percent of Democrats and 68 percent of Joe Biden voters are fully vaccinated. 

Getting the final group of unvaccinated Americans jabbed has become a challenge for health officials nationwide.

Just over 75 percent of American adults have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 65 percent are fully vaccinated.

Demand for the shots has faltered in recent months, though, with less than one million Americans getting the shots every day – compared to over 3.5 million in early April.

While the rise of the Delta variant – a more contagious strain of the virus that originated in India – causing massive case surges nationwide pushed up vaccine demand for a few weeks, the rate of Americans getting the shots has dropped once again.

The remaining unvaccinated adults have been hard to convince to get the shots, as even offering incentives like vaccine lotteries that failed to have much impact on vaccination.

The White House is now trying to leverage to power of employers to force Americans to get the shots.

Last week, President Biden announced that every company with more than 100 employees will be forced to mandate vaccines on their employees.

Companies that do not comply will be fined $14,000 by the federal government. 

The President is also requiring all federal employees or contractors to get vaccinated in the next 75 days, or potentially be terminated.

The executive order will not include an option of being regularly tested to opt out of the vaccine requirement. 

The orders will apply to workers in the executive branch but not the congressional or judicial.