Americans support restrictions for those not vaccinated against COVID

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll found a majority of Americans support restrictions on the ways in which unvaccinated people can mix in public. While 72 percent said it was important to know “if the people around me have been vaccinated,” a majority — 62 percent — said unvaccinated people should not be allowed to travel on airplanes. Fifty-five percent agreed that unvaccinated people should not work out at public gyms, enter movie theaters or attend public concerts.

When asked about the workplace, 60 percent of Americans said they wanted to work for an employer “who requires everyone to get a coronavirus vaccine before returning to the office” and 56 percent thought unvaccinated workers should stay home.

A growing number of Americans want to get the coronavirus vaccine. The national opinion poll of 1,005 people, conducted late February, found that 54 percent of respondents said they were “very interested” in getting vaccinated. That was up from a January survey, when 41 percent expressed the same level of interest, and 38 percent in a May 2020 poll before a coronavirus vaccine was developed. Interest in the vaccine increased over the past year among whites and racial minorities, with about 6 in 10 whites and 5 in 10 members of minority groups now expressing a high level of interest.

Twenty-seven percent of Americans said they were not interested in getting vaccinated, which was relatively unchanged from a similar poll that ran in May.

The poll results were somewhat split along party lines. Republicans, who have been generally less concerned than others over the past year about the coronavirus, were also less supportive than Democrats of workplace and lifestyle restrictions for the unvaccinated, according to the poll.

Yet even among Republicans, four out of 10 said they supported keeping people without vaccines from going to gyms or movie theaters. Five in 10 Republicans think vaccines should be required for airline travel.