Demographic differences

The research, which appears in the journal Social Science & Medicine, found that Black people, women, and those with conservative leanings were most likely to refuse vaccination.

Black respondents were 41% less likely to pursue vaccination. That is significant since numerous studies have found that people who are Black, Asian, or from minority ethnic backgrounds are more likely to acquire COVID-19 and experience worse clinical outcomes.

This is often due to social, economic, and healthcare inequities experienced by these demographics in the United States and elsewhere.

The study’s authors take care to note that the Children’s Health Defense — a group known for anti-vaccine activism — have published an article that reminds Black Americans of medical abuses against them.

One example is the Tuskegee syphilis study of 1932, where Black men with syphilis were denied informed consent and treatment so doctors could research the long-term effects of the disease.

The researchers suggest that Black Americans may be swayed against receiving the vaccine due to anxieties around historical abuses in the context of medical research.

The investigators write in the study paper, “To the extent that anti-vaccine advocacy groups are successful in framing COVID-19 vaccination in terms of past medical abuses against minority groups, it could decrease the likelihood that racial minorities will pursue COVID-19 vaccination.”

Women were 71% more likely to decline being vaccinated. The study’s authors noted the statistic that women make 80% of healthcare decisions for their families, suggesting that their hesitancy may have implications for men and children as well.

Additionally, the study found that the respondents who planned to vote for Donald Trump for president in November 2020 were 29% more likely to decline to be vaccinated. Indeed, more conservative respondents were more likely to refuse the vaccine, according to the researchers.