Almost a third of Americans think an already available vaccine to prevent the coronavirus is being withheld — and nearly half believe COVID-19 was created in a lab, a new survey found.
The Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape Project poll suggests a troubling mistrust as well as misinformation about the virus, USA Today reported.
According to the results, 29% said it's either probably or definitely true that a vaccine that prevents coronavirus infection exists and is being withheld, while 32%, said they believe treatment that cures coronavirus infection exists but is being withheld.
"That's a pretty dark type of thought to be floating around the public. There's an undercurrent of a lack of trust in society, a lack of trust in elites," Robert Griffin, research director for the Democracy Fund Voter Study Group, told USA Today.
The survey of more than 6,300 Americans taken April 2-8 has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.
In other findings:
- 44% of Americans believe the coronavirus was probably created in a lab, while 56% said this is likely or definitely untrue. Fifty percent of Republicans surveyed said they believe coronavirus was created in a lab, compared to 37% of Democrats who said they believed that.
- 48% said the United States is "concealing" the number of coronavirus deaths.
- 35% of Americans said they believe the coronavirus is probably or definitely being "exaggerated" for political purposes.
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