With the nation in the midst of a summer surge of COVID-19 infections and increased hospitalizations due to the disease, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week approved updated COVID vaccines to protect Americans six months and older against the deadly virus. But Annenberg Public Policy Center(APPC) health survey data finds that the number of Americans believing COVID-19 vaccination misinformation has risen and their willingness to take or recommend vaccination against COVID-19 is lower than in the past.

The 2024 waves of the Annenberg Science and Public Health (ASAPH) knowledge survey, a nationally representative panel survey of nearly 1,500 U.S. adults, suggest that many may be reluctant to get the updated vaccine.

As of July 2024,over a quarter of Americans incorrectly believe that the COVID-19 vaccines have been responsible for thousands of deaths, up from 22% in June 2021. Over one in five Americans believe the false idea that it is safer to get a COVID-19 infection than to get the vaccine, up from 10% in April 2021, months after the lifesaving vaccines were introduced. And the percentage of Americans who incorrectly believe that the COVID-19 vaccine changes people's DNA nearly doubled to 15% from 8% in April 2021.

"Belief in these three misconceptions is associatedwith increased reluctance to vaccinate," says Kathleen Hall Jamieson, the director of APPC and director of the survey.

The policy center's ASAPH surveys also finds that relatively few are worried; only 1 in 5 people are somewhat or very worried they or someone in their family will contract COVID-19, down from 25% in February 2024 and 35% in October 2023. Under half of those surveyed said in February 2024 they are "somewhat likely" or "very likely" to get a yearly COVID-19 vaccine if it is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), down from 52% in June 2023.

Read more at Annenberg Public Policy Center.