Wealth, race, and gender influence American attitudes about receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
The majority of Americans (61%) feel that a widely available vaccine is the only way to get their lives back to normal. However, there is still a reluctance by many groups of people to receive a dose.
Vaccinating Americans is critical to eradicating the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s not an easy task. Aside from the continual setbacks affecting the vaccine’s rollout, conflicting messaging from government agencies could confuse even the most diligent information seeker over the past ten months. In addition, Savanta sees conflicting access and attitudes towards the vaccine based on wealth, race and gender in America.
The majority of Americans (61%) feel that a widely available vaccine is the only way to get their lives back to normal. However, there is still a reluctance by many groups of people to receive a dose. Recent data from Savanta shows that only 55% of Americans are willing to take the Covid-19 vaccine. 62% of males and 50% of females report a willingness to be vaccinated. The lower number of females concerns many health leaders because mothers tend to be the family members responsible for keeping up with immunizations.
Savanta data reports race is also influencing attitudes towards the vaccine. African Americans are far less likely (38%) to take the Covid-19 vaccine than Whites (62%) and Hispanics (58%). This is curious as African Americans are at the highest risk of infection, but not surprising considering the historical medical racism African Americans faced throughout history. This article from the New York Times describes how the Black community often distrusts medicine and how this poses a challenge to eradicate COVID-19.
It has been lovely seeing medical workers vaccinating elderly Americans across social media in the past few weeks. Still, Savanta data shows that these vaccinations are likely family members of wealthier Americans. Family members earning over $100K are more likely to have taken the Covid-19 vaccine than people in lower-income families.
Overall, the majority of Americans remain unvaccinated. 65% of Americans claim that no one in their family has taken the Covid-19 vaccine so far. There is a long road ahead to raise awareness of vaccine safety and efficacy. The good news is that 56% of Americans follow the COVID-19 guidelines more strictly than they did earlier in the pandemic, hopefully contributing to fewer infections, hospitalizations, and deaths.
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