KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor: Views on the U.S. Role In Global COVID-19 Response
As of March 17, 2022, the U.S. has provided funding and in-kind support for the global COVID-19 response, including delivering half a billion donated COVID-19 vaccine doses to more than 110 countries, with more donated doses to come. These efforts have been part of the Biden administration’s plan to usher in an end to the pandemic emergency, reduce the impact of COVID globally, and help reduce the chance of new, more-transmissible variants from emerging. In November 2021, polling from the KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor found the public was generally supportive of the U.S. helping to provide vaccines to other countries, especially when people were informed that the U.S. has enough of its own vaccine supply.
The latest KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor (conducted February 9-21, 20221) continues to find that the public is largely supportive of the U.S. role in global vaccine distribution, as well as other response efforts including the distribution of masks and COVID-19 rapid tests. A plurality of adults think the U.S. is doing about the right amount to make sure people in other countries have access to COVID-19 vaccines (42%) or control the spread of COVID-19 in other countries by providing masks by providing masks or rapid tests (42%). Smaller shares say the U.S. is doing “too much” or “not enough” on both of these efforts. Around a quarter say the U.S. isn’t doing enough to make sure people in other countries have access to vaccines (28%) or to control the spread of COVID-19 in other countries (27%). About one in five say the U.S. is doing “too much” on both of these fronts.
Overall, the public thinks the Biden administration could do more to combat COVID-19 misinformation in other countries. A previous KFF report found widespread belief in COVID-19 misinformation in the U.S. and the WHO has said COVID misinformation was a major factor fueling the pandemic throughout the world. Around four in ten (41%) say the U.S. isn’t doing enough to combat misinformation about COVID-19 in other countries, while 28% of adults say the U.S. is doing about the right amount and 18% say we’re doing too much.
There are strong partisan differences in views of U.S. efforts to combat COVID-19 overseas. Overall, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say the U.S. “isn’t doing enough” on any of the global COVID-19 response areas asked about in the survey, while Republicans are more likely to say the U.S. is “doing too much.” More than one-third of Democrats (37%) say the U.S. is “not doing enough” to make sure people in other countries have access to COVID-19 vaccines, while a similar share of Republicans (36%) say the U.S. is “doing too much” on this effort. Similarly, a majority of Democrats say the U.S. is doing “about the right amount” to control the spread of COVID-19 in other countries by providing masks or rapid tests (55%), while another third say the country isn’t doing enough (32%). Less than one in ten Democrats say the U.S. is doing “too much” (7%). This is compared to nearly half of Republicans (45%) who say the U.S. is doing “too much” while one-third of Republicans (32%) think the U.S. is doing the “right amount,” and 16% say we’re “not doing enough.”
The partisan divide is somewhat smaller when it comes to the U.S. role in combatting misinformation worldwide. Around half of Democrats say the U.S. “isn’t doing enough” to combat the spread of COVID-19 misinformation in other countries (46%), as do 47% of independents and 30% of Republicans. Yet, one-third of Republicans say the U.S. is doing “too much” to combat misinformation.