A new survey has found that a number of Americans who remain unvaccinated against COVID-19 are strongly against the vaccines because they think the shots are more dangerous than the coronavirus.

The survey, published on the Kaiser Family Foundation’s website Wednesday, was conducted from July 15 to 27 as part of the organization’s ongoing COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor project that tracks the public’s feedback and experiences with the vaccinations.

The health-centered nonprofit found that over half of Americans who are still unvaccinated believe the vaccines are more dangerous than the novel coronavirus disease. The same survey respondents indicated that the news media might have just exaggerated their coverage of the severity of the situation.

KFF surveyed 1,500 U.S. adults during the two-week period and found that three in ten adults are still unvaccinated, and 53% of those who remain unvaccinated think that the COVID shots pose a bigger risk to their health than the infection.

About 14% of the respondents said they will “definitely not” get the jabs. Among them, 75% claimed the news reports about the pandemic’s seriousness are “generally exaggerated.” Those who said they will “definitely not” get vaccinated also maintained that they are either “not too worried” or “not at all worried” about getting sick from the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, majority of the vaccinated participants (about 61%) indicated that they are no longer worried about getting infected with COVID-19. Nine out of ten (88%) vaccinated adults believe that getting sick from the coronavirus is more dangerous than getting the COVID shots.

KFF noted in its latest report that one-fourth of the unvaccinated adults (8%) are actually open to getting vaccinated. In fact, they are likely to get the shots before the end of the year. On the other hand, almost half of the unvaccinated respondents (45%) have opted to “wait and see” how the vaccines work for other people before getting their own jabs.

The survey comes in the wake of the recent surge in COVID-19 cases in the country, with experts attributing the spike to the delta variant of the virus, according to ABC News.

Based on official numbers collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 58.2% of Americans ages 12 and up have been fully vaccinated so far. With the new surge, the public health agency is encouraging the people in areas with high transmissions — vaccinated or not — to wear face coverings in public.

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