Vaccine Reluctance Is Diminishing but Still High in a Few Industries

The Federal Reserve is closely monitoring vaccination activity in the United States. As mentioned in the Federal Open Market Committee statement of April 28, 2021, “The path of the economy will depend significantly on the course of the virus, including progress on vaccinations.” Gauging vaccine sentiment has become part of the ongoing COVID-19 Survey of Consumers conducted by the Philadelphia Fed’s Consumer Finance Institute (CFI). Based on results collected during the eighth survey in April 2021, Americans are becoming more receptive to getting the COVID-19 vaccines, but pockets of reluctance remain. In the latest survey, the overall vaccine take-up rate was 70 percent, with slightly over half (50.3 percent) of respondents saying they had already received the vaccine and another 19.7 percent indicating they would get it as soon as it was available to them. Despite the progress, however, pockets of reluctance or indecision remain. The results show that the highest rates of vaccine hesitancy (undecided, not planning to get, or not answering) appear among workers in retail sales (33.1 percent) and in the leisure, hospitality, arts, and entertainment sector (26.8 percent), industries that often require high-contact, in-person work.