Unvaccinated Americans are snubbing the Johnson & Johnson vaccine

Johnson & Johnson vaccination site.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

Unvaccinated Americans are not keen on receiving the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 shot, even after a temporary pause on its use was lifted last week, a Washington Post/ABC News poll found.

Only 22 percent of people in the demographic are willing to get the vaccine, which has been linked to very rare but serious cases of blood clots.

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While that number can likely be partially chalked up to folks who are not willing to get vaccinated at all, a significantly higher number of unvaccinated Americans consider the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines to be safe.

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The good news for the United States is that the country has more than enough supply of the other two approved vaccines for everyone who wants to be vaccinated. Still, the hesitancy surrounding the Johnson & Johnson vaccine could have ramifications — it's easier to store than its fellow vaccines, so it could come in handy for hard-to-reach populations, the Post notes, and it only requires a single-shot, which could help buck the trend of some people not going to get their second Pfizer or Moderna dose.

Those attributes also mean Johnson & Johnson is theoretically a crucial weapon in vaccinating much of the world, so it's worth keeping an eye on whether that hesitancy extends beyond the U.S.

The Washington Post/ABC News poll was conducted among 1,007 adults in the U.S. between April 18-21. The margin of error is 3.5 percentage points. Read more at The Washington Post.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.