Albany Times Union

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The vast majority of teens and young adults aged 14-24 say they’re willing to get the COVID-19 vaccine or have gotten it already, a poll finds. A minority say they’re not willing, or that their decision will depend on documented safety.

The data, from the text message-based Myvoice national survey of youth based at the University of Michigan, appeared in the Journal of Adolescent Medicine. Study authors include cardiologi­st Eric Brandt, pediatrici­an Stephen Gorga, and family physician Tammy Chang, members of the University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation.

Brandt notes that in the first Myvoice survey in October 2020, 76% of the 911 responding teens and young adults said they were willing to get vaccinated, though 33% said they wanted additional informatio­n. At that time, 20% said they were unwilling to get a vaccine. However, in Gorga’s repeat poll in March 2021, the percentage willing to get vaccinated, or already have been, has risen to 84%; 9% say they’re willing, but that their decision still depends on what they learn about the vaccine. The percentage of people age 14-24 who say they are not willing or intending to get vaccinated is down to 15%. Brandt notes that the newest data was gathered before the US Food and Drug Administra­tion announced its “pause” of use of the Johnson & Johnson/janssen vaccine due to a small number of cases of a rare blood clot condition in younger women among the first 6.7 million Americans to get the vaccine. The Astra-zeneca vaccine, not available in the US, also has been paused in some countries because of clot concerns.

Other findings from the October poll: Black young people were more than three times more likely than their White peers to say they weren’t willing to get the vaccine when it became available; young people of Asian descent were more likely than White or Black young people to say they’d get vaccinated.

The study finds that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organizati­on are the preferred sources of vaccine informatio­n for 42% of young people, and that 32% said they would prefer to learn about the vaccine from a doctor, pharmacist, or other provider or health-care organizati­on.

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