Vaccination, politics and COVID-19 impacts
- PMID: 35031053
- PMCID: PMC8758893
- DOI: 10.1186/s12889-021-12432-x
Vaccination, politics and COVID-19 impacts
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.
© 2022. The Author(s).
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
References
-
- Makridis C, Rothwell JT. The real cost of political polarization: evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic. 2020.
-
- Pffefferbaum B, North CS. Mental health and the COVID-19 pandemic. N Engl J Med. 2020;383(6):510–512. - PubMed
MeSH terms
Substances
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Medical