A COVID-19 tracking poll of Americans over 65 conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), a nonprofit focused on health issues, found that 57 percent of respondents say it’s easy find information about vaccinations. But among those who remain unvaccinated, just 44 percent said they had even tried to find information about when and where they can receive the FDA-authorized shots. Forty-two percent of unvaccinated elderly respondents said it was “difficult” to find information about the COVID-19 vaccination process.
A wide age gap was reflected in the KFF survey, with 67 percent of adults over the age of 75 saying they have either received their first vaccine dose or have scheduled their first vaccination. But among adults aged 65 to 74, that share falls to just 43 percent who say the same.
Among all respondents, a 20 percentage point gap exists between college graduates and non-college graduates, as those with degrees say it was much easier to find information about COVID-19 vaccination shots. Thirty-six percent of U.S. adults with no college degree say they have not tried to get a vaccination, compared to 20 percent of older Americans who have a college degree.
Forty-four percent of respondents say they have been vaccinated, but one-third said they have not tried to get an appointment. Sixteen percent said they tried but could not get an appointment at their doctor’s office, a local hospital or their place of worship.
Twenty-one percent of adults over the age 75 said they have not tried to get a vaccination.
Men in the survey were more likely to have received a COVID-19 vaccination than women, 49 percent to 40 percent.
Among all survey participants, 52 percent said it was easy to find information about how to schedule a time to receive the shots. Four in ten Americans said they got help while trying to figure out how to schedule their vaccination appointment. People without college degrees or who make less than $40,000 a year were slightly more likely to say they received help while seeking appointment information.
Among relatives or friends who say they helped someone elderly find information about COVID-19 vaccinations, four in ten said it was difficult to pinpoint such logistical data. Just over a quarter of such helpers said it was “very difficult” to set up a vaccination appointment, but about the same percentage said it was “very easy.”
State-by-state guides are available online providing information about how and where to set up a vaccination appointment. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also has a detailed guide explaining how to set up one’s local COVID-19 shots. The CDC guide also address questions of “does it work” and “are there side effects?”
Newsweek reached out to the Kaiser Family Foundation offices in San Francisco for any additional information about the survey.
