Image of Michelle Strollo, DrPH, MHS

Most Americans trust their healthcare providers, a factor that could positively impact whether or not they are willing to receive vaccinations, according to investigators. 

Fully 7 in 10 Americans trust their doctors, nurses and pharmacists to “do what’s right for them and their families either most or all of the time,” reported the Associated Press, which conducted the poll of 1,071 adults in June in collaboration with University of Chicago researchers. The findings cut across political leanings, race and ethnicity, investigators reported.

Trust builds the longer a patient works with a provider, the pollsters said. Patients who have a long relationship with a physician, doctor or pharmacist may be more likely to accept the encouragement to get a shot, said Michelle Strollo, a senior vice president in NORC at the University of Chicago’s Health Research Group.

Poll respondents’ key concerns? In an earlier version of the poll, fully 60% cited safety worries as the main reason for not getting vaccinated. And in mid-July, after the delta variant had spread nationwide, pollsters found that Americans harbored doubts about the shots’ effectiveness against new virus variants.

In the July poll, Democrats and Americans aged 60 years and older were the most likely to express confidence in vaccine effectiveness. Not surprisingly, those who had not yet been vaccinated were far more skeptical than those who had received a shot. But respondents overall had begun showing signs of growing concern about becoming infected, investigators reported. 

Poll results can be found on the AP/NORC website.