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- More than half of white Republicans said they were not sure or would not take a COVID-19 vaccine.
- They were less likely to be vaccinated against COVID-19 than black Americans and Latin Americans.
- Yet black Americans and Latin Americans receive fewer vaccines and die at higher rates.
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Three months after the launch of the COVID-19 vaccine in the United States, vaccine acceptance rates have steadily increased for black and Latin Americans, but have remained low among white Republicans, according to a recent survey by Civiqs.
The first polls on attitudes towards vaccines in the United States found that black Americans were more likely to be reluctant to get vaccinated than other racial and ethnic groups. Noting this shortcoming, public health officials have launched national and local awareness efforts on vaccines targeting minority groups.
But so far, vaccine acceptance campaigns have failed to determine who might be the most vaccine-hesitant group at this point in the rollout: White Republicans.
Republicans, especially whites, are less likely to want to get vaccinated
According to Civiqs, 56% of white Republicans said they were not sure or would not take a COVID-19 vaccine if it was available to them, compared to 31% of black Americans, 30% of Latin Americans and only 7% of whites. Democrats.
“Vaccines are our only way out of this situation. If more than 80 percent of the population is not vaccinated by next winter, this virus will reappear,” Dr. Paul Offit, member of the Food and Drug Committee administration’s vaccine advisory, told NBC News. “What worries me is that if 25% of Republicans say they will not get vaccinated, it will be difficult to do.”
In fact, some polls have found vaccine refusal rates among Republicans to exceed 25%. When considering acceptance of the vaccine on the basis of political parties alone, 41% of Republicans said they did not plan to get the vaccine if they were available.
There is a partisan gap in vaccine acceptance
Partisan politics appears to be a much bigger factor in vaccine reluctance than black Americans’ mistrust of the health care system.
Indiana University pollsters found that blue states have lower refusal rates for vaccination than red states, and battlefield states are usually somewhere in the middle.
More data from an NPR / PBS NewsHour / Marist poll released last week showed that 47% of people who backed Trump in 2020 said they would not choose to be vaccinated.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease specialist, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” show that he found it “disturbing” that Trump supporters were avoiding the COVID-19 vaccine.
“It’s not a political issue. It’s a public health issue,” Fauci said in another appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” Axios’ Orion Rummler reported.
Black and Latin Americans have even fewer vaccines
Despite a shift towards acceptance of vaccines in polls, black and Latin Americans have consistently received fewer vaccines than their white counterparts, according to available racial data.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has compiled data on the race and ethnicity of just over half of those who received at least one dose of the vaccine. Of that group, nearly two-thirds (66%) were white, 9% were Hispanic, and 7.5% were black, as of March 14.
Although white Americans make up a larger proportion of healthcare workers and adults over 65 – groups that have been given priority in vaccine rollout – the country’s black and Latin populations have been more than two to two. three times more vulnerable to serious illness and death from coronavirus in general. .
Experts previously told Insider that increasing awareness and education, improving access to vaccines, and partnering with trusted members of the Black and Latinx communities could increase vaccine uptake.
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