The Latest: AP poll: Most unvaccinated unlikely to get shots

In this July 21, 2021 file photo, a signboard marks the location of a city-run popup COVID-19 vaccine clinic in Brownsville, Texas. Most Americans who haven’t been vaccinated against COVID-19 say they are unlikely to get the shots and doubt they would work against the aggressive delta variant despite evidence they do, according to a new poll that underscores the challenges facing public health officials amid soaring infections in some states. (Denise Cathey/The Brownsville Herald via AP)

Naomi Osaka lights the Olympic flame during the opening ceremony in the Olympic Stadium at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 23, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

In this file photo dated Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, three vials of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine are pictured in a new coronavirus vaccination center at the 'Velodrom' (velodrome-stadium) in Berlin, Germany. The European Medicines Agency has recommended approving Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 12 to 17, the first time the shot has been authorized for people under 18. In a decision on Friday, July 23, 2021 the EU drug regulator said research in more than 3,700 children aged 12 to 17 showed that the Moderna vaccine — already given the OK for adults across Europe — produced a comparable antibody response. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)

People wearing face masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19 walk at a shopping mall in Beijing, Saturday, July 17, 2021. A senior Chinese health official says China cannot accept the World Health Organization's plan for the second phase of a study into the origins of COVID-19. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

U.S. first lady Jill Biden waves as she arrives at Imperial Palace to meet Japan's Emperor Naruhito in Tokyo, Friday, July 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, Pool)

People and police officers wearing face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus walk past a busy crossing at Shinjuku district in Tokyo Friday, July 23, 2021, hours before the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics starts. (AP Photo/Kantaro Komiya)

Passengers crowd a railway station in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, July 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

A health worker takes a swab sample of a passenger entering the city to test for COVID-19, at a railway station in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, July 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

Residents sit at an observation area after receiving their second dose of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in Mandaluyong city, Philippines Friday, July 23, 2021. Philippine officials said a local transmission of the highly contagious delta variant of the COVID-19 virus has been detected in the country and announced Friday tighter quarantine restrictions in the capital and a weeklong ban on the entry of travelers from hard-hit Malaysia and Thailand. (AP Photo/Joeal Calupitan)

People wearing face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus stand watch near a vendor selling flowers outside a subway station in Beijing, Thursday, July 22, 2021. A senior Chinese health official says China cannot accept the World Health Organization's plan for the second phase of a study into the origins of COVID-19. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

In this April 1, 2021, file photo, general practitioner Gyorgy Teleki vaccinates an elderly patient with the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine produced by Chinese Sinopharm in Taplanszentkereszt, Hungary. A new study suggests that a Sinopharm vaccine offers poor protection from COVID-19 among the elderly, raising questions for dozens of countries that have given the Chinese company’s shots to their most vulnerable populations. (Istvan Filep/MTI via AP, File)

In this Monday, July 19, 2021 file photo, people walk in Oxford Circus, in London. The British government has sought to ease food supply pressures in England by exempting more than 10,000 workers from quarantine rules that had led to staff shortages and empty shelves and fears of panic-buying. However, it has come under criticism Friday , July 23, 2021 for the way it has lifted coronavirus restrictions in England and for not doing more to help other crucial sectors, such as transport, the emergency services and energy industry. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, File)

In this July 22, 2021 file photo, Soile Reyes, 12, of Brooklyn, receives the first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine as her mother Evelyn Pereira looks on at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Most Americans who haven’t been vaccinated against COVID-19 say they are unlikely to get the shots and doubt they would work against the aggressive delta variant despite evidence they do, according to a new poll that underscores the challenges facing public health officials amid soaring infections in some states. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Visitors enter after registering for COVID-19 tests at the Georges Pompidou museum in Paris, Friday, July 23, 2021. Visitors now need a special COVID pass to visit French museums or movie theaters, the first step in a new campaign against what the government calls a "stratospheric" rise in delta variant infections. (AP Photo/Rafael Yaghobzadeh)

In this July 5 2021, file photo a policeman receives his Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in Soweto, South Africa. South Africa's COVID-19 vaccination campaign is regaining momentum after being disrupted earlier this month by a week of riots following the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma. (AP Photo/Alet Pretorius, File)

In this July 6, 2021, file photo, a patient receives a Johnson & Johnson vaccine against COVID-19 in Hammanskraal, South Africa. South Africa's COVID-19 vaccination campaign is regaining momentum after being disrupted earlier this month by a week of riots following the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma. (AP Photo/Alet Pretorius, File)

In this July 22, 2021 file photo, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra holds up a flier promoting the Vax Nevada Days lottery after briefing from officials at the Clark County Fire Department Training Facility in Las Vegas. Most Americans who haven’t been vaccinated against COVID-19 say they are unlikely to get the shots and doubt they would work against the aggressive delta variant despite evidence they do, according to a new poll that underscores the challenges facing public health officials amid soaring infections in some states. (Steve Marcus /Las Vegas Sun via AP)

Dancers perform during the opening ceremony in the Olympic Stadium at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 23, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

NEW YORK — A new poll shows that most Americans who haven’t been vaccinated against the coronavirus say they are unlikely to get the shots. About 16% say they probably will get the vaccine.

Most also doubt they would work against the aggressive delta variant, despite evidence they do. Those findings underscore the challenges facing public health officials as soaring infections in some states threaten to overwhelm hospitals.

The poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found 35% of adults who have not yet received a vaccine say they probably will not, and 45% say they definitely will not.

That means “that there will be more preventable cases, more preventable hospitalizations and more preventable deaths,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins University.

Just 3% of unvaccinated Americans say they definitely will get the shots, though another 16% say they probably will. Some 37% of those under age 45 say they haven’t and likely won’t get the shots. Those without college degrees compared to those who graduated say they aren’t and won’t be vaccinated, 30% to 18%.

Nationally, 56.4% of all Americans, including children, have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the CDC. Vaccinations are starting to increase in some lagging states where cases are rising — Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri and Nevada.

“What I learned from my patients is that when a loved one dies, that’s a tragedy,” says Dr. Howard Koh, a professor at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health. “But when a loved one dies and you know it could have been prevented, that tragedy haunts you forever.”

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MORE ON THE PANDEMIC:

— European agency clears Moderna vaccine for children 12-17

— Tokyo Olympics are arriving at last, after a yearlong delay

— In Canada and Zimbabwe, paths to vaccination diverge

— Virus’s impact: More relaxing and thinking, less socializing

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— Find more AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine

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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — U.S. regulators are weighing the final stamp of approval for certain COVID-19 vaccines. Governors in states hard hit by the pandemic hope the move will help persuade the many holdouts in their states to finally get the shot.

Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines approved for use in the U.S. were authorized for emergency use. The governors of Arkansas and Ohio have appealed in recent days for full approval as virus cases and hospitalizations skyrocket in their states. They say the move would help combat vaccine resistance and could also clear the way for more businesses to require their employees to be inoculated.

It’s a topic that Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson has confronted as he holds town halls throughout Arkansas, which leads the nation in new cases per capita but has one of the lowest vaccination rates. Only about 35% of the state’s population is fully vaccinated.

All three vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. went through a fast-track approval process — but that didn’t skip the normal massive testing required of any vaccine. Pfizer and Moderna have applied for full approval, and a Pfizer decision is expected soon.

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LONDON — The World Health Organization’s Europe director says the coronavirus delta variant first identified in India is now dominant across the European region.

WHO advised countries to take increased measures to monitor the virus, including increased access to free testing, strengthening contact tracing and providing incentives to isolate.

WHO Europe director Dr. Hans Kluge says despite increasing efforts to immunize people across the continent, millions remain unvaccinated and at risk of ending up in the hospital.

“We are far from out of the woods in terms of the pandemic ending,” says Klug, adding countries easing their coronavirus restrictions should be ramping up other public health measures.

The warning comes just days after Britain removed nearly all legal limits on COVID-19 interventions, allowing people to abandon their masks and gather in large numbers indoors.

Kluge says travel is “not risk-free,” but stopped short of recommending people cancel travel plans altogether. He advises travelers to “do it safely” by wearing a mask, washing their hands and keeping their distance.

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LONDON — The European Medicines Agency has recommended clearing Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 12 to 17, the first time the shot has been authorized for people under 18.

In a decision on Friday, the EU drug regulator says research in more than 3,700 children ages 12 to 17 showed the Moderna vaccine — already approved for adults across Europe — produced a comparable antibody response.

Until now, the vaccine made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech has been the only option for children in North America and Europe. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is currently considering whether to extend the use of the Moderna vaccine for children under 18.

With global vaccine supplies still tight, much of the world still is struggling to immunize adults, and agencies including the World Health Organization have urged rich countries to donate their doses to the developing world — where fewer than 2% of people have been vaccinated — rather than moving on to inoculate their younger, less vulnerable populations.

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TOKYO — Belated and beleaguered, the Tokyo Summer Olympics finally opened Friday night with cascading fireworks and made-for-TV choreography that unfolded in a near-empty stadium during the pandemic Games.

As their opening played out, devoid of the usual crowd energy, the Olympics convened amid simmering anger and disbelief in much of the host country. But organizers hope the excitement of the sports to follow will offset the widespread opposition.

Only a little over 20% of the population is fully vaccinated. And there have been near daily reports of positive virus cases within the so-called Olympic bubble that’s meant to separate the Olympic participants from the Japanese population.

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BEIJING — The Chinese city of Nanjing has reported 12 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 23 in an outbreak that has locked down at least 30,000 people.

The first nine cases were found at the airport in Nanjing on Tuesday. Authorities are conducting mass testing of the city’s population and have locked down 34 residential communities.

China has controlled the spread of the coronavirus through quick lockdowns of affected areas and mass testing to identify and isolate infected people.

It also is witnessing a spate of cases in Yunnan province near the border with Myanmar, which is facing a severe outbreak. Authorities reported 13 new cases in the latest 24-hour period, all people who had crossed the land border from Myanmar in the past month.

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LONDON — The British government has sought to ease food supply pressures in England by exempting more than 10,000 workers from quarantine rules that had led to staff shortages and empty shelves and fears of panic-buying.

However, it has come under criticism Friday for the way it has lifted coronavirus restrictions in England and for not doing more to help other crucial sectors, such as transport, the emergency services and energy industry.

Many critics say the National Health Service’s contact tracing app is a distraction from the fact the U.K. is in a third wave of the pandemic. It follows the spread of the more contagious delta variant and the recent lifting of lockdown restrictions.

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TOKYO — Jill Biden has held a virtual meet-and-greet with several U.S. athletes who will compete at the Tokyo Games.

The U.S. first lady is in Tokyo to support the athletes and attend the opening ceremony.

She spoke virtually with Eddy Alvarez, a baseball player and short track speed skater, and basketball player Sue Bird. Both will be flagbearers for the U.S. at the opening ceremony. She also spoke with Allison Schmitt, a four-time Olympic swimmer and mental health advocate.

Biden told the athletes that they’d given up a lot to be in postponed Tokyo Olympics because of the coronavirus and relied on support from family and friends. On Saturday, she’ll dedicate a room in the residence of the U.S. chief of mission to former U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, and his wife, Irene Hirano Inouye.

She will host a U.S.-vs.-Mexico softball watch party at the U.S. Embassy for staff and their families, and cheer U.S. athletes competing in several events before leaving Tokyo. She visited a coronavirus vaccination site in Alaska before heading to the Olympics.

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LISBON, Portugal — The head of Portugal’s vaccine rollout program says the country is experiencing steep shortfalls in expected deliveries of the Janssen COVID-19 jab.

Rear Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo said in testimony to a parliamentary committee Friday that Janssen promised 800,000 doses in July but provided only 260,000.

In August, only 200,000 Janssen doses will be delivered instead of the expected 600,000.

He said the shortfall was “bad news” for Portugal’s inoculation drive. He did not give an explanation for the Janssen reduction.

Authorities are looking for other suppliers to make up for the shortfall.

Gouveia e Melo said around 65% of Portugal’s target population has had a first jab and about half are fully vaccinated. He said he expected 70% to be fully vaccinated by Sept. 12.

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ISLAMABAD — Pakistan has passed the grim milestone of 1 million cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began last year.

Pakistan reported another 11 deaths Friday and 1,425 new cases of infection, bringing the country’s tally to 1,000,034 people infected. The nation has confirmed 22,939 deaths.

Infections have been steadily increasing as the more contagious delta variant spreads, and authorities expect a new surge from public activities during the Eid al-Adha holiday this week.

About 30 nations exceed 1 million cases, and more than 190 million people have been infected worldwide, a number considered an undercount.

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SYDNEY — An Australian state government on Friday declared an emergency due to a COVID-19 outbreak in Sydney.

The New South Wales state government reported one fatality and 136 new infections in the latest 24-hour period, the biggest daily tally of new cases since the outbreak began in mid June.

State Premier Gladys Berejiklian called on the federal government to provide more vaccines for the worst-effected suburbs in Sydney’s west and south.

Sydney has been locked down for a month. The delta variant cluster has spread from Sydney to Victoria and South Australia states which are also locked down. Half Australia’s population of 26 million is currently locked down.

Only 15% of adult Australians are fully vaccinated. While there are ample supplies of locally manufactured AstraZeneca, many are concerned about the slight risk of blood clots associated with that vaccine and a demanding Pfizer, the only alternative registered in Australia.

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SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea says it’ll extend the toughest distancing rules imposed on the greater Seoul area for another two weeks, as it’s battling its worst coronavirus outbreak.

South Korea on Friday reported 1,630 new virus cases, marking a 17th straight day its daily caseload is above 1,000. About 70% of the recent cases have been detected in the Seoul area, where about half of South Korea’s 52 million people reside.

Interior and Safety Minister Jeon Hae-cheol says it’s inevitable that social gatherings and travel are restricted to suppress a widespread domestic outbreak linked to a variety of sources in daily lives.

The current government-imposed rules ban gatherings of three or more people after 6 p.m. and require high-risk facilities such as nightclubs to suspend operations. Weddings and funerals can be attended by only relatives, but capped at 49 people. Those rules were to expire on Sunday, but the government will implement similar restrictions two more weeks. From next Monday, the government says that non-relatives can attend weddings or funerals but the 49-person cap will still be maintained.

South Korea’s total caseload stands at 185,733, with 2,066 deaths from COVID-19.

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