Beliefs or Science? Vaccine Hesitancy and Politics.
Written by Anvi Sharma
Everything is at stake for the 2024 election. Immigration, economy, climate change, and healthcare – not one thing left behind. The extreme polarization of each political party and ideology has played a major part in shaping public opinion on vaccines, especially with the mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic by Donald Trump.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), vaccine hesitancy was listed among the top ten global health threats in 2019. Vaccines have become some of the most successful public health tools, eradicating diseases such as smallpox and polio. In 2021, shortly after the pandemic, a Gallup poll found that 32% of adults globally were hesitant to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
In the US, there is a clear link between political beliefs and vaccine hesitancy, shown especially during the 2020 presidential election. A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center survey from August 2021 provided further insight, showing that 58% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents believed that the COVID-19 vaccine’s risks were greater than its benefits, compared to only 12% of Democrats.
Conservative ideology emphasizes the policy of limited government intervention, and this belief translates into mistrust of government-led vaccine campaigns. For many Conservatives, vaccine mandates were seen as an overreach of government power, infringing on personal freedoms. Media consumption further pushes the polarization. Individuals who consume right-leaning outlets such as Fox News were more likely to express vaccine hesitancy.
Although vaccine hesitancy is prominent on the political right, it’s not exclusive to conservatives. On the political left, alternative health movements have increased. In a poll executed by the University of Southern California, 10% of self-identified liberal adults expressed hesitancy about vaccines. Rooted in anti-pharma and anti-corporation ideology, individuals are often wary of “chemicals” within the vaccines.
The politicization of vaccines isn’t exclusive to just the US. A 2020 Ipsos poll found that 47% of French citizens were hesitant to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Much of this hesitancy is due to the handling of the pandemic by the French government, a sentiment expressed by both the extreme right and left.
The mistrust of vaccines has been shown to have severe consequences. During the pandemic, counties in the US with lower vaccination rates have shown higher infection rates, hospitalizations, and deaths. According to the CDC, counties that voted for Donald Trump in 2020 showed 2.73 times the death rate than counties that voted for Joe Biden between April and September 2021.
The increasing presence of conspiracy theories will affect the world for generations to come. I polarized countries such as the US, understanding the importance of vaccines is critical to creating a society that is more inclusive and progressive.
