The Latest: AP poll: Vaccinated older adults use caution

NEW YORK — A new survey finds that vaccinated older adults are far more worried about COVID-19 than the unvaccinated.

Those vaccinated older adults are likelier to take precautions of wearing a mask, avoiding crowds and travel despite the protection afforded by their shots. That’s according to a survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The survey finds growing numbers of the unvaccinated are planning travel, embracing group gatherings and returning to gyms and houses of worship.

Kathy Paiva is a 70-year-old retired bartender from Palm Coast, Florida. She and her 67-year-old sister both fell ill with the coronavirus. Paiva, who is vaccinated, survived. Her sister, who wasn’t, did not.

“I’m scared to go anywhere right now,” she said. “I’d like to go out to eat, too, but I’m not going to put anyone’s life in danger, especially my own.”

Oliver Midgette, a 73-year-old retired electronics salesman in Norfolk, Virginia, rarely dons a mask and eats in restaurants. He says he “grew up in the old days. I ate dirt. I drank water from a hose.”

Dr. Irwin Redlener, a public health expert and founding director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, said unvaccinated people’s concerns about the virus are lower because of their “disregard for science.”

Linda Wells, a 61-year-old retired high school administrator in San Francisco, says defiance about vaccines is “selfish” and a “stubborn point of view keeps them from resolving a health crisis.”

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