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. 2022 Jan 14;22(1):96.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-12432-x.

Vaccination, politics and COVID-19 impacts

Affiliations

Vaccination, politics and COVID-19 impacts

Don Albrecht. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

The development of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines provides a clear path to bring the pandemic to an end. Vaccination rates, however, have been insufficient to prevent disease spread. A critical factor in so many people choosing not to be vaccinated is their political views. In this study, a path model is developed and tested to explore the impacts of political views on vaccination rates and COVID-19 cases and deaths per 100,000 residents in U.S. counties. The data strongly supported the model. In counties with a high percentage of Republican voters, vaccination rates were significantly lower and COVID-19 cases and deaths per 100,000 residents were much higher. Moving forward, it is critical to find ways to overcome political division and rebuild trust in science and health professionals.

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Conflict of interest statement

I declare that the authors have no competing interests as defined by BMC, or other interests that might be perceived to influence the results and/or discussion reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Research Model Used in the Analysis
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Relationships Between Variables Used in the Model and Per Capita COVID-19 Cases from March 1, 2021 to September 1, 2021
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Relationships Between Variables Used in the Model and COVID-19 Deaths from March 1, 2021 to September 1, 2021

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