It’s still the case that a lot of people are skeptical of getting the vaccine. But the number of people saying that they have gotten the vaccine or plan to get the vaccine has continued to rise. Even among Republicans, a group that had stood out for expressing an unwillingness to be vaccinated, polling from YouGov conducted for the Economist shows that hesitation has finally begun to drop. In February, an average of 23 percent of Americans overall expressed uncertainty about getting the vaccine with another 26 percent saying they didn’t plan to get it. Among Republicans, those figures were 23 percent and 33 percent. Over the last three YouGov-Economist polls, which used slightly different wording, 14 percent of Americans said they were unsure while 18 percent expressed flat opposition. Among Republicans, the numbers were 14 percent and 25 percent who rejected any vaccine at all. That’s still a lot of opposition, of course. But that the trend is heading in the right direction is important. Perhaps more important is that the trend in new coronavirus cases is also heading in the right direction, down now to a point we hadn’t seen since last fall. Even if we haven’t hit herd immunity, having far more immunized individuals makes it less likely that the virus will spread.