Outerboroughs more cautious of COVID-19 vaccine than Manhattan

Gothamites who live in the outerboroughs are far more hesitant about taking the coronavirus vaccine than their counterparts in Manhattan, a new survey revealed Monday.

Only 51 percent of Brooklynites, 52 percent of Queens residents and 54 percent of Bronxites saying they’ll get vaccinated as soon as they are eligible — compared to 71 percent of Manhattanites, according to the survey from business group the Association for a Better New York.

However, there is a silver lining. More than a quarter of residents in each of those three boroughs told pollsters that they were open to getting the inoculation, but that word of mouth would be key — they plan to get jabbed but only after others they know have received the inoculation.

The demographic data from the survey supports the borough breakdowns — as 78 percent of white respondents said they plan to get the vaccine as soon as possible, an opinion shared by 39 percent of black respondents.

Many black and Hispanic neighborhoods have been especially hard hit by the pandemic, which has killed more than 25,000 New York City residents, while the national death toll soars past 400,000.

The city’s Health Department is now spending $8 million a month on public service campaigns, a tally that includes a recently-launched effort to promote the vaccine and overcome hesitancy in minority communities.

Overall, the poll found that 57 percent of New Yorkers will take the vaccine as soon as they can.

That total grows to 81 percent of city residents when counting those who said they will get the shot “after a few people I know have taken it” or “after many other people I know have taken it.”

Just one in five residents told pollsters they will are unsure if they’ll take the shot or plan to refuse the inoculation all together.

If those figures bear out, New York could surpass the 70-75 percent vaccination threshold believed to be needed to reach “herd immunity” and limit future COVID-19 outbreaks.

But that mass acceptance hinges on a major increase in vaccine supply. Currently, the entire city is receiving roughly 100,000 doses weekly for the first jabs of the two-shot regime.

At that rate, it would take more than a year to immunize the entire city.

The survey was of 1,549 New Yorkers and had a 2.5 percent margin of error.