More Americans are opting out of Covid-19 vaccinations; survey shows the choice can be based on political views

Pew Research Center graph

It has been four years since the U.S. rolled out lockdowns and mask mandates to slow the spread of Covid-19. Many Americans, both Republican and Democrat, received the country's first Covid-19 vaccine in fairly equal numbers. However, after that initial jump-off point, Covid-19 vaccines have become more partisan, and many Americans seem less concerned about the virus despite its continuing presence in the population.

"A new Pew Research Center survey finds that just 20% of Americans view the coronavirus as a major threat to the health of the U.S. population today, and only 10% are very concerned that they will get it and require hospitalization," report Alec Tyson and Giancarlo Pasquini for the Pew Research Center. "This data represents a low ebb of public concern about the virus that reached its height in the summer and fall of 2020, when as many as two-thirds of Americans viewed Covid-19 as a major threat to public health."

While it's hard to explain why so many U.S. citizens seem indifferent to the disease, vaccination numbers speak to an overall lack of public interest. "Just 28% of U.S. adults say they have received the updated Covid-19 vaccine, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended last fall to protect against serious illness," Pew reports. "This stands in stark contrast to the spring and summer of 2021, when long lines and limited availability characterized the initial rollout of the first Covid-19 vaccines. A majority of U.S. adults (69%) had been fully vaccinated by August 2021."

Historically, political affiliation hasn't been a factor in vaccination status. A Pew survey from 2023 reported: "Robust public confidence in the value of childhood vaccines for MMR, with no decline in the large majority who say the benefits outweigh the risks compared with surveys conducted before the coronavirus outbreak." The Covid-19 vaccination does not have that kind of unilateral support, but instead vaccine choices fall along party lines. Tyson and Pasquini write, "Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents remain more likely than Republicans and GOP leaners to say they've received an updated Covid-19 vaccine (42% vs. 15%). This 27-point gap in recent vaccination is about the same as in January 2022."

The gap is even more distinctly party-affiliated among Americans 65 and older, who are ironically more at risk of dying from the disease. Pew reports, "In the current survey, 66% of Democrats ages 65 and older say they have received the updated Covid-19 vaccine, compared with 24% of Republicans ages 65 and older. This 42-point partisan gap is much wider now than at other points since the start of the outbreak."

Tyson and Pasquini add, "Still, the virus continues to circulate widely in the United States, with wastewater data suggesting that cases in the early part of 2024 were among the highest they have been since the first omicron wave in 2022."